REDUCE STAMP DUTY AND ROLL BACK ON REALTY DEALS After years of dizzying growth, things are slowing down for the real estate industry. Property prices have shot up and now interest rates are going up making monthly mortgage payments more expensive. Not surprisingly then the industry is looking to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for some stimulus to boost home sales. Hence, measures should be taken to lower interest rates on home loans, reduction in stamp duty and rollback of service tax on projects under construction. Some of the steps towards boosting the housing sector like enhancing the interest exemption limits for homebuyers are overdue steps, which I hope that this budget brings in.Developers who are raising funds at high interest rates also expect to get an infrastructure status to access funds at lower rates. This was a wish in last year’s budget as well but was not granted by the Finance Minister. The inflation-hit industry also expects customs duty on steel and cement to be reduced. Inflation is increasing input cost and therefore we have to go out and actually generate that money from increasing the sale price. What we would really look at seeing is concessions to the home buyers, so that they gain some benefit on the income tax.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Dr. P. K. Vasudeva, Former Senior Trade Professor, ICFAI University
REDUCE STAMP DUTY AND ROLL BACK ON REALTY DEALS After years of dizzying growth, things are slowing down for the real estate industry. Property prices have shot up and now interest rates are going up making monthly mortgage payments more expensive. Not surprisingly then the industry is looking to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for some stimulus to boost home sales. Hence, measures should be taken to lower interest rates on home loans, reduction in stamp duty and rollback of service tax on projects under construction. Some of the steps towards boosting the housing sector like enhancing the interest exemption limits for homebuyers are overdue steps, which I hope that this budget brings in.Developers who are raising funds at high interest rates also expect to get an infrastructure status to access funds at lower rates. This was a wish in last year’s budget as well but was not granted by the Finance Minister. The inflation-hit industry also expects customs duty on steel and cement to be reduced. Inflation is increasing input cost and therefore we have to go out and actually generate that money from increasing the sale price. What we would really look at seeing is concessions to the home buyers, so that they gain some benefit on the income tax.
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