‘Housing demand strong, likely to grow on back of tax incentives’

New Delhi: Housing demand continues to be strong and is expected to grow further on the back of tax incentives offered in the Budget and a recent repo rate cut, CREDAI President Boman Irani said.

CREDAI is an apex body for private real estate developers.

Irani asserted that there are no signs of demand slowdown in the Indian housing market, rather it will continue to rise in the long-term horizon.

However, he said there could be an impact in some markets that are “over-heated” but overall at pan-India level there are no concerns at all on the growth going up only.

Short-term blips in a real estate cycle is not something that we need to worry about. We need to see long-term growth,” he said.

Asked whether the frenzy and euphoria seen in the last three calendar years has subsided, Irani said, “I don’t think so.”

He cited the property registration data of Mumbai market for February this year to prove his point that demand

remains intact.

Registration of properties in Mumbai municipal region remained flat in February at 12,000 units.

Irani said the tax incentives offered in Budget and a recent 25 basis points reduction in repo rate would improve housing demand.

“One of the boldest moves that I have seen in the recent past is the present Budget where the government has announced it will not tax income up to Rs 12 lakh,” he said, adding this will improve the purchasing power of people.

The CREDAI President said the government has been focusing a lot on infrastructure and this is creating new business opportunities for all segments of the real estate sector including housing, office, malls and warehousing.

On housing price outlook for this year, Irani said it will be similar to inflation level.