Things you should know about GST in Real Estate

Centre's FY22 GST compensation amount should be higher than projected Rs  1.58 lakh crore: Opp-ruled states - The Economic Times

OVERVIEW OF GST: 

In 2000, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister of India, initiate a committee to draft new indirect tax law and i.e. GST which stands for Goods and Services Tax. It was launched to replace multiple indirect taxes in India. Such as excise duty, value-added tax (VAT), services tax, purchase tax, octroi, entry tax, luxury tax, and so on. Here, propertywala brings every fact and figure that you should know about GST in real estate.

DEFINITION:

The Goods and Service Tax Act was driven in Parliament on 29th March 2017 but it came into effect on 1st July 2017. It is the only tax that applies all over India and imposes on the supply of certain goods and services. However, GST does not replace customs duty, which is still required on imported goods and services. Different categories of products and services attract different tax rates under GST.

Now, we will go ahead with the GST regime which is given by our Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, In his words, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is “a path-breaking legislation for New India”. Then, GST is not just a tax reform but a milestone in realizing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s dream of building ‘Ek Bharat – Shrestha Bharat’.


GST APPLICABILITY IN REAL ESTATE:

APPLICABLE
1. It is applicable to under-constructed flats only.
2. It is because the GST does not cover the real estate sector under its range. Therefore, the tax rate applicable on a property is charged under ‘work contracts.

 
NOT APPLICABLE
1. GST does not apply to ready-to-move-in flats, plots, and lands.
2. Upon completion and receiving the occupancy certificate i.e.(OC), the property is categorized as ready to move in. That is why a developer cannot charge GST on selling ready-to-move-in homes.

GST RATE ON REAL ESTATE 2022:

Everyone has a dream of a house. Well! It is fine if you are planning to buy a property. Because buying the right property is one of the biggest achievements in life. So, home buyers in India have to pay GST on the purchase of under-construction properties such as flats, apartments, and bungalows. Before hurrying on to the process, the foremost thing you must ask yourself is, “what is the GST rate on real estate?

PROPERTY  TYPEGST RATE FROM APRIL 2019
Affordable housing1% without ITC (Input Tax Credit)
Non-affordable housing5% without ITC
According to the table, if the property is affordable,  the GST rate from April  2019 is only 1% without ITC. Also, for non-affordable housing, the GST rate is 5% without ITC.

WHAT IS ITC?

Input Tax Credit refers to the tax already paid by a person on any purchase of goods and/or services that are used or may use for business. Therefore, it is available as a deduction from tax payable.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING AS PER GST:

According to government norms, housing units worth up to Rs 45 lakhs are referred to as affordable housing in metro cities in which carpet area measures up to 60 sq. meters. The Delhi-National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, the Mumbai-Kolkata are categorized as metropolitan regions. A housing unit in non-metro cities barring to be an affordable house, if it costs up to Rs 45 lakhs and has a carpet area of up to 90 square meters as mentioned in the given table.

CITIESPRICECarpet AREA (SQ/M)
METROSup to  Rs. 45 lakhs60 sq./m
NON- METROSbelow Rs.4590 sq./m

SOME FACTS TO BE NOTED WHEN CONSIDERING GST IN REAL ESTATE:

  1. It does not subsume the stamp duty and registration charges, which you still have to pay.
  2. Seller increases the cost of ready-to-move-in properties to factor in the GST cost. So, overall the under-constructed properties are still cheaper than ready-to-move-in properties. 

That’s all you need to know about GST when it comes to real estate.

Kolkata hiked 124% of registrations YoY in the property

kolkata: Amid Omicron outbreak, West Bengal to levy reduced stamp duty till  end of March - The Economic Times

In Kolkata, the residential realty market shows an amazing recovery in housing sales. This happened after the pandemic-induced lull over the last two years. Kolkata registered the second-highest number of property registrations in July 2022 in terms of home sales. After the comeback of Kolkata’s realty market, the state government founded various sops to encourage fence-sitters to enter the market. The city saw an excessive hike in property registrations in August 2021, recording over 7,300 property registrations. Although, it happens after two years of the pandemic. Nowadays, Kolkata and its suburbs recorded a flow in July 2022, indicating an upsurge in property registrations by 124% YoY. Therefore, propertywala shares every factor about Kolkata hiked 124% of registrations in residential property.

Some key facts regarding Kolkata hiked 124% of registration in residential property:

  1. According to the transactions in July 2022, nearly 49% of the total registrations are in the 501-1,000 sq. ft. range. Units with a floor area of 1,001 sq. ft. or more account for only 25% of the total pie. The share of smaller branches up to 500 sq. ft. is 26%. 
  2. As of July 2022, about 6,700 sale documents were registered compared to July 2021, recording a growth of Kolkata hike 124% YoY registrations in the property.
  3. Since July 2021, Kolkata has recorded the registration of about 50,900 properties in a year. 

However, among all the zones in Kolkata regarding property registration, the northern and southern belts saw the maximum interest among homebuyers and succeeded in maximum sale conversions in July 2022.

Conclusion :

According to Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, “Although home loan rates have increased recently in Kolkata. So, there has been a strong home-buying trend in July 2022. This supports the idea that there is a latent demand for homes that will move the residential market with the right growth.” This high growth is a result of the importance of benefiting from the lowest stamp duty before the rebate period closes. When the stamp duty rate cut ends by September 2022, the industry committed that the sales momentum will continue. Thus, in light of the low stamp duty charge, many home buyers are looking for property purchases and registrations before any further rise in home loan interest rates.

Kolkata real estate take a hike after Price protect scheme

With Kolkata residential market still trying to rise from the after effects of demonetisation, developers have started applying their tricks to attract more and more customers by offering them innovative schemes.
The price protect schemes that were launched recently with the budget, in which the interested consumers would enjoy the benefit in case there will be any decrease in property rates, have helped in increasing the demands by 15% after the two months that followed the demonetisation.
Jitendra Khaitan, CMD of pioneer Property Management Ltd. Have stated that the Market is facing a positive growth and that approximately 50% hike in queries is expected along with a hike of 10-15% in actual sales. However, the price protect scheme is temporary, it will still effect the market majorly and increase the real estate market to a great extent in profit.
Khaitan also put out the word that these schemes are highly helping the market recover from the downfall after demonetisation. After the demonetization struck the nation there was almost up to 40% drop in queries and sales of homes in and around Kolkata as buyers waited for a fall in real estate prices.

Commercial Real Estate Office Space Demand Regains Pace

Commercial_Real-Estate

Commercial_Real-Estate

Demand for space in commercial real estate sector is reviving after the earlier setbacks in the primary quarters of the year 2012.  Seven prominent commercial hubs of India showed a greater pace of growth in the third quarter of 2012.  The third quarter which longs from July-to-September quarter, witnessed an A-Grade office space absorption by the major commercial real estate hubs on India. Continue reading

Real Estate Fails to Tackle Surging Housing Units Demand

Surging Housing Shortage of India.

Surging Housing Shortage of India.

Continued population boom in India leads to a situation where residential units or space remains insufficient for the people. According to Cushman and Wakefield all major cities of India are in high need of around 2.1 million new housing units to meet the increased demand. Real estate sector has to come up with new residential projects to solve out this great menace. Real estate has to play a vital role. Continue reading

Real Estate Township Projects Sees Light Again in W.B.

townships see light again

townships see light again after 6 months in W.B.

West Bengal government plans to allow the real estate builders to resume their construction works which have been barred for last six months. Earlier the West Bengal government had prevented West Bengal real estate builders from building townships in West Bengal. Continue reading

Growing Service Sector Enhances Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Sector Boom

Commercial Sector Booms with Service Sector Growth

Growing service sector of India drive the demand for commercial real estate. Real estate research firms reported that Service sector of India showed a greater pace of growth rate of 8.5%. This will result in the increased demand for more commercial real estate space.  In 2011 service sector occupied 70 % of office space and this is likely to be increased this year. Continue reading

Government’s Surplus Land Selling Boosts Real Estate

The higher financial stress of the Government makes them think of selling or leasing of the surplus land. This will provide more land for construction in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and other such notable cities of India.The decision will boost the real estate growth. Realty firms are sure to cast their hawk’s eye on this land and make the profit out of it. Continue reading

Bengal Urban Land Policy: Seeks 30% Reservation for Low-Cost Housing

The promise of Ma, Mati, and Manush governance by Mamata Banerjee may fall short of the second M-word, meaning land — at least for real estate developers in the state’s capital city. For, the West Bengal government has now decided to bring in an amendment to the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCA), 1976, an eyesore of developers for quite some time. The proposed alteration will stipulate the developers to reserve 30 per cent apartments in big housing projects for the low-income group (LIG). Industrialists have been seeking a total repeal of the Act, introduced in 1976 to prevent hoarding or excessive holding of land in urban centres.

According to the Act, the ceiling limit on vacant land in a category ‘A’ city like Kolkata is 7.5 cottah or about 500 square meters. The demand for repealing the ULCA was raised for the first time by Godrej Properties chairman Adi Godrej, at an industry meet within the first month of Banerjee taking over the chief minister’s office.

Much to the disappointment of the developers, urban development minister Firhad Hakim has now totally ruled out the possibility of repealing the Act. “We are not going to abolish the Land Ceiling Act,” he said. “Instead, we will give permission to developers for purchase of land beyond ceiling, provided they reserve 30 per cent housing for low-income housing segment.”

As for the Trinamool dispensation, it has also decided to do away with the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) — an idea pioneered by the earlier Left Front government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Instead, “the government will allocate land to the highest bidder and for the rest of the big projects the state will build on its own,” according to Hakim. Notably, in spite of the Land Ceiling Act, the earlier government had windfall gains by allotting land in prime areas of city.

For example, three prominent government agencies involved in land deals in and around Kolkata — the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Municipal Corporation and West Bengal Housing Board— signed deals worth more than Rs 18,000 crore, for over 5,250 acres of land during the period in little over two years. In fact, KMDA was credited with signing deals, worth more thanRs 800 crore with real estate developers on a single day. “The process of land allotment slowed substantially over the last two years. First, it was due to elections,” said a city-based real estate developer. “Second, it was due to lack of vision and policy of the new government.”

Realty projects, roads focus to help build-up for Unity Infraprojects

Healthy order book, strong balance sheet and the potential to unlock value from real estate projects make Unity Infraprojects a decent investment idea on a medium-term basis. Mumbai-based Unity Infraprojects is a small-sized construction firm operating in buildings, water and roads segments. The company is also developing real estate on its land parcels in Nagpur, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Goa. The total saleable area from these projects is nearly nine million square feet.

Unity Infraprojects stands to gain by unlocking the value in its real estate projects. It was not able to monetise any of its real estate projects due to delays in execution by over a year. However, it is now in an advanced stage of securing approvals for launching its Bangalore residential project. Unity has a total saleable area of nearly 3 million square feet in this project, which it intends to launch in another three months.

After this it will focus on monetising its real estate in other cities. The current order book of the company in its construction business stands at Rs 4,700 crore, which are 2.75 times its FY11 revenues. These orders are to be executed over the next three years. The company has been increasing its exposure to the roads segment in the last few years. Although the roads segment is highly competitive, Unity’s backward integration in terms of owns machinery has allowed the company to garner better operating margins than its peers.

In the nine months ending December 2011, the company has maintained an operating margin of 15.5%. Another factor that augurs well for the company is its strong balance sheet. As of September 2011, the company had a debt-equity ratio of 1.1, which is one of the best among its peers. Unity Infraprojects’ stock is trading at a P/E of 3.9 while similar-sized rivals like Pratibha Industries and Supreme Infrastructure India are trading at a P/E of 5.9 and 5.2, respectively. Considering its growth potential and the relative discount to its peers, the stock looks attractive at this level.


Buying a House During Monsoon is Beneficial

The monsoon is usually considered as a lean season in terms of sales for the developers. It’s not just the weather that affects the purchase of property, but also because it is considered inauspicious to buy anything for about two weeks during this period (because of shraadh or pitrapaksh). Buyers prefer to wait till the festival season to buy real estate. So, in order to increase sales, developers are willing to offer ‘monsoon discounts’.

Many people postpone buying a house during these months. This adds to the existing inventory of the real estate developer. The builder, on their part, wants to get relieved from it so he can start a new project in the upcoming festival season. Also, they would need some liquid cash in hand for the new projects.

While only a handful of developers advertise it as a ‘monsoon discount’, most are willing to offer lower rates to serious buyers. The significant of discount varies for different cities, depending on how badly it is affected by the monsoon. So, in Mumbai and Kolkata the quantum of discount is likely to be higher than that in Delhi and Chennai. In Mumbai, a buyer can expect discounts ranging from 10-20%,  a Mumbai-based real estate marketing company.

Besides the entice of discounted property prices, buyers can also avail of the monsoon special offers on home loans by banks.

Brokers Hunt for Jobs as Slump Hits Realty Sales

NEW DELHI | BANGALORE: Broker in Bangalore bylane has just opened a stationery shop. He has named it ‘Smart Shop’, borrowing the name from the realty brokerage firm that he ran from the same premises until about two months ago. He switched to retail after his property business hit a rough patch following a slump in home sales. About 03-quarters of his revenues came from sale of apartments, the remaining from renting.

“With home sales dropping, it doesn’t make business sense anymore,” he says. It’s the same story in other big cities. In Mumbai, a mid-size broker has set up a small fast food joint to make ends meet. In Nagpur, a real estater has quit the real estate business and set up an ice-cream parlour. Their worries are not unfounded. While the large and established players in the property business have managed to stay, even during the slump, thousands of smaller players like brokers and agents are being forced to look for other jobs.

It also hit lakhs of people employed with such small outfits – each of which hires 5-15 people.With many brokers closing shops or reducing size, these people are out in the market, looking for jobs in sectors such as retail, banking, insurance and call centres. The real estate industry employs about 10 lakh people across the country, the majority in the unorganised sector.

In the first quarter of 2011, home sales dropped 17 per cent in Mumbai, 14 percent in Bangalore and 15 percent in Hyderabad. According to consultant Jones Lang La-Salle, unsold residential units in projects that are complete or are nearing completion in 6-12 months in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR are as high as 25 percent and 16 percent, respectively. In other big cities, including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, the numbers range between 12 percent and 19 percent. Sales in tier-II and tier-III cities are steady, though there is some panic due to the increase in interest rates, which have climbed to about 11 percent from 8.25 percent a year ago.

“For smaller brokers, the impact of the current market factors is a lot more compared to the larger brokers,” says the president of the National Association of Realtors India . “Even for our members – who are fairly well-off – business is down 40 percent compared to 2009-10. But the smaller guys are in trouble and are setting up businesses that move on a daily basis. Many I know have asked their employees to look out” Ravindra Bramhe, chairman of the Maharashtra Property Brokers’ Association, says.

For whatever business is left in the market, there are hundreds of agents in queue. For instance, there are pockets on the Noida Expressway, near large projects, where real estate brokers can be seen sitting inside small tents, under the sweltering sun, waiting for business. Those who can’t afford to set up these tents can be seen on the roadside, running after every car that passes by, with brochures and flyers of projects in hand. Industry refers to them as the broker mandi. “All my friends and colleagues are now looking outside real estate before things get worse,” says Chaudhary. Many have returned to the insurance industry and others have found jobs with small call centres. A few have found employment with retail stores.

Sayaji Hotels Ltd to Invest Rs100 Crores in Pune; Plans to Expand Operations

On completion of two years in Pune, Sayaji Hotels Ltd is planning to invest Rupees100 crore in Pune. . “This expansion will be completed by September 2012
with a total investment of Rs 100 crore” said, Sajid Dhanani, MD, Sayaji Hotels Ltd. The group is planning to expand its operations with a sports and cultural club, restaurant, mall, meeting and conference facilities and service apartments.
“The demand for hotels and restaurants is increasing at a good rate in Pune. Dhanani’s estimate is 22 per cent as far as hotel business is concerned. Though supply of rooms in the last two-three years has increased considerably, the restaurant business is on the rise far more speedily.
Moreover, Sayaji Hotels further plans to influence the brand image it has created in Pune by exploring in other locations like Bangalore, Chennai and Gurgaon wherein majority of its customers come from automobile, Information Technology and Engineering industries. It also has plans to expand Barbeque Nation brand from current 18 divisions in the country to around 33 divisions by the end of the year. The new Barbeque Nation restaurants will be opened in majorly in metropolitan seven cities such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune. The group’s turnover was roughly around Rupees 190 crore for the financial year 2010-11.

DLF got NOC for SEZ Kolkata

Nightscene, Shenzhen 2005
One of the leading real estate developers in India, DLF, has been granted the NOC from the government today, thus the firm will now resume its plan for SEZ, a special economic zone in Kolkata.

After a meeting of the Board of Approval which is the nodal body for SEZ-related matters, Mr. D K Mittal, the Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary told the media that the DLF’s SEZ in Kolkata has been granted re-notification by the Board of Approval.

In June, 2008, DLF had come up with four SEZ projects out of which one was SEZ Kolkata.

DLF have gained this notification after a long struggle since it had to approach the Commerce Ministry for reviving this IT/ITeS tax-free zone. Finally, once the demand for IT/ITES leasing space came up, the company allowed for resuming the project.

The RBI’s Realty Indices For Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad happens to be one of the 11 countries for which the reserve bank of India would prepare one index for commercial and one for residential properties. This is done to curtail speculations and expected realty bubble burst in the coming years. The RBI report on asset price monitoring system (ASMS) advised to formulate these indices two months back.

Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata
Photo by seaview99

Many different countries such as Canada, France, us refer to these indices for realty prices.

The report says, RBI should start compiling a realty index and update it every quarter. To begin with, the report has proposed Mumbai and Delhi where property prices have skyrocketed to record levels. After these cities RBI would add 10 other cities which include Greater Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bangalore and Bhopal.

The real estate price index once devised would become the primary index that could be perused by investors to gauge the performance of companies that are listed in the realty sector. The index can also help the investor analyze how real estate is performed in comparison to stocks and bonds. It can also provide information on the risk involved in a particular investment and returns that can be achieved from it.

The ASMS report has defined the deficiencies this indices would help overcome.

Mumbai high street rentals see biggest crash

As the global slowdown pushed consumers to stay at home, retailers halted expansion plans and checked out of expensive high-street locations. Rental rates at high street locations across the world crashed, with the biggest crashes in Mumbai.
Among the exceptions were Bangalore’s two iconic retail hubs, Brigade Road and Commercial Street, and Kolkata’s Camac Street.
Mumbai’s leading highstreet locations—Colaba Causeway, Linking Road and Kemps Corner—also reported the largest declines in rentals across the world on a year-on-year basis—63.5%, 63%, and 60% respectively.
As per the annual global survey, Main Streets Across The World 2009, by global real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield, over three-fourth’s of the world’s most prestigious shopping streets saw rentals crashing anywhere between 17% and 63.5%. Around 18%, however, recorded a growth.

Unitech presents Unihomes

Unitech Developers are now concentrating on Kolkata. They present new stylish affordable residential apartment Unihomes at Kona Expressway Kolkata with lots of modern amenities. Unihomes offers one and two bedroom apartments that are suitable for contemporary urban living. A desirable and contemporary place within the reach of your pocket. Apartments Price is starting at eighteen lakh rupees and above.

Realtors use technology to boost productivity

SALES slowdown, stagnating capital values and a need to manage resources better are pushing Indian realty firms to invest in technology that will help them achieve optimum productivity, information access and regulatory compliance.

End-to-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, that manage diverse projects across different locations, are slowly finding favour. ERP vendors are seeing increased enquiries pushing them to develop tailored solutions targeted at mid-market realty firms.

When Delhi realty firm RDS Projects’ standalone ERP deployment failed, it turned to a solution that provided efficient management of projects across locations and customers: Aurigo Brix. Similar was IDEB’s case, which used Aurigo’s product across realty projects in Southeast Asia and India.

Recently, global tech giant SAP said Maharashtra-based builder City Corporation has gone live on its ERP solutions to help accelerate business plans, such as building 50,000 houses across five townships in Pune including India’s first digital township, Amanora Park Town.

SAP has signed deals with Chennai-based True Value Homes and the Kolkata-headquartered Tantia Construction and also counts GMR Infra and HCC as its major clients.

From tech biggies to mid-market IT firms, everybody is gunning for a slice of this market. While Bangalore-based Sonata Software has launched SonnetCONSTRUCT, a specialised ERP solution for this vertical, Oracle India and HP have teamed up for a bundled offering — Oracle Accelerate Solution for HP ProLiant servers — that will help mid-size businesses across verticals sustain and grow operations.

While vertical-specific ERP figures are not available, the overall market is expected to top $250 million in 2009, growing at a CAGR of over 25.2% between 2004 and 2009.

The firm recently launched its fifth generation product, BRIX 2009, an industry add-on to Microsoft’s ERP solution suite, Dynamics AX and available through select partner channels in the US, Middle East and Africa.