RBI asks banks not to overstate value of realty
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday came hard on banks for overstating realisable value of real estate properties they finance by including charges such as stamp duty and other levies.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday came hard on banks for overstating realisable value of real estate properties they finance by including charges such as stamp duty and other levies.
The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) has cried foul over the State government’s decision to hike its Ready Reckoner rates that guide the stamp duty and other levies.
Blaming use of black money in real estate to archaic laws, India’s largest realty firm DLF has said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s emphasis on reduction of stamp duty will help in cleansing the sector.
Reforms in the real estate sector is the need of the hour for tackling issues like high stamp duty which often results in otherwise honest people having to deal in black money, according to the Economic Survey 2010-11 tabled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The question here is why are these builders not executing registries even after obtaining the OC (Occupancy Certificate) & CC (Completion Certificate) from the authorities concerned. The fact is that these smart developers delay & often deny registries to the home buyers to get maintenance of society when it is not registered. They continue to charge hefty amount in the name of society maintenance. Add ot it, revenue that they get from inflated power bills. After the registry of the apartment, majority of apartments buyers are free to form AOA (Apartment Owners’ Association).
To say that the Union Budget 2024-25 has left the vast majority of home buyers in India pretty dissatisfied would be stating the obvious. Even though the built environment of the Indian real estate might find its own silver lining with the given budget, the vast majority of Indians feel this budget is going to hit their finances hard. What comes as a shocker to the perception at large is the fact that their primary dissatisfaction is not limited to the removal of indexation benefits, as perceived by the analysts.
Understanding the mindset of Indian real estate has never been easy. The built environment of the Indian real estate could argue and demolish the best of consumer-centric reforms. Remember the way industry body CREDAI had called RERA prior to its inception, and that too in front of the then Union Minister Kamal Nath, builder harassment and public amusement bill. But at the same time they celebrate the self-inflicted injury on many occasions. Track2Realty finds the overtones of the sector all the more contradictory with the Union Budget, before and after the budget.
Immediately after the Union Budget 023-24, when Track2Realty had taken a principled position that it is going to hurt the Indian home buyers, many critics & self-proclaimed financial experts had questioned us. They were celebrating LTCG without Indexation and now very same set of people are again glorifying the dual option- with or without Indexation for deals before the Union Budget. How could one argue for both and against the motion? It is like batting for both teams in a game of cricket. Isn’t it?
As the Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman announced to lower the LTCG (Long Term Capital Gains) from 20% to 12.5%, the stock market took a hit. The analysts across the financial spectrum immediately swung into analysis that the LTCG hike would adversely affect the stock market in the short term but big pocket investors won’t be affected as much as presumed. A section of financial wizards who understand the nuances of personal finance across the asset classes had even bigger a worry – Real Estate. Prima facie what looked like the LTCG being lowered from 20% to now at 12.5%, has in fact hurt the property market the most. Reason: the indexation benefit under Section 48 that is presently available for property, gold, and other unlisted assets have been now proposed to be removed.
Indian real estate has historically been very optimistic on the eve of every festive season. The post festive season sales number may not back the pre-festive bullishness, but the sector has been known to be hoping to make merry year after year. After all, real estate is a sentiment driven business and the stakeholders try best to create an ambience of positivity to bring the fence sitting buyers back to the market, often with festive discounts and freebies.