Focus On First Time Homebuyers

The real estate sector in general and the housing sector in particular has got a fillip in the latest Budget.

- Ashish Sinha

FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN has made all the right noises in the Union Budget as far as the realty sector is concerned. Whether it is the mention of model tenancy laws to push the concept of rental housing or the target of constructing more than 19 million rural houses, the builders and developer community, at least the organised ones, have expressed happiness with the budget announcements, which they anyway do each year.

Affordable homes are expected to find more buyers now, particularly those homes that are priced at Rs 45 lakh. This is because the budget has announced major tax benefits by way of interest deduction up to Rs 3.5 lakh (against Rs 2 lakh earlier) for affordable housing to help stimulate demand. This relief will now be available until March 31, 2020.

“This can help attract first-time homebuyers,” says Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK, a leading property consultants.

“This tax benefit (interest deduction) will boost demand substantially. This will significantly benefit first-time homebuyers who will enjoy the benefits of interest subvention under the CLSS (credit linked subsidy scheme) and the announced tax benefits,” said Ramesh Nair, CEO and Country Head, JLL India.