NEW DELHI (INDIA): Delhi’s Urban Development, Health, Industries, Home, Public Work Department, Power, Transport Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday advised real estate developers not to aggressively chase the luxurious housing segment and on the contrary come forward to construct affordable houses, given its potential of profitability and wide spread public applause.
While speaking at NAREDCO’s 14th National Convention, the Minister also felt that GST rates on real estate and construction sector under present dispensation are too high and need a review keeping in view the public sentiments attach to the sector as with lower GST rates, the compliance and its collections would increase substantially.
According to him, the higher GST rates would compel the real estate developers to indulge in adjustments, thereby amounting to erosion in real estate GST collections and resentment with public at large.
Jain recalled that a large segment of real estate developers are moving far flung areas even to set up luxurious housing and appartments with little realisations that takers for such units are not many resulting in there little utilization with most of investments on them going astray.
Therefore, the best way out for real estate developers in the present context would be to concentrate largely on affordable housing as these provide for considerable profitability and get them satisfaction to meeting the public demand as well laurels from the government as housing is a sentimental issue.
Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Punjab, Vini Mahajan who also spoke on the occasion, however, disclosed that the Government of Punjab would soon bring out the new Building Rules for the State as also promote the rental housing as the state has couple of landscape of vacant land that would shortly auction to the public for the affordable housing.
The New Building Rules would be brought out shortly and be displayed in the government portal for larger public consultation following which the rules could be notified as industry has been demanding on this front for quite some time, she added pointing out that housing sector should be subjected with benign GST taxation and that the affordable housing be exempt from GST levy.