One of the main highlights of the
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s union budget this year was granting
Infrastructure status to Affordable Housing and increase in allocation of
‘Prime Minister Awas Yojna’ from Rs. 15000 Crore to Rs. 23000 Crore, a long
standing demand of real estate industry.
This move is quite significant as it
will provide cheaper sources of finance to developers and also open up additional
avenues for developers to raise funds. The segment will now be given priority
lending status.
“We propose to facilitate higher investment in affordable housing.
Affordable housing will now be given infrastructure status, which will enable
these projects to avail the associated benefits,” finance minister Arun Jaitley
said.
With surplus liquidity created by demonetization, he said the banks have
already started reducing their lending rates, including those for housing.
Interest subvention for housing loans has also been announced by the Prime
Minister.
With all the incentives and property
tax reforms proposed in this budget, the government is cementing its commitment
towards its Housing All Mission, and if the trends are to be believed, the
dream of affordable but quality housing for all might just be on the cusp on
becoming a reality soon.
