CREDAI pre-bud wish list: Govt should hike tax exemption limit on principal, interest on home loans
New Delhi, Jan 20 (PTI) In its pre-Budget wish list, realtors apex body CREDAI has urged the government to increase tax exemption limit on principal amount as well as interest paid on home loans to boost demand for residential properties.
Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) has also sought changes in definition of affordable housing.
In its pre-Budget recommendations, CREDAI has sought deduction under section 80C for principal repayment of housing loan should be increased from existing limit of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Alternatively, it suggested that the deduction for principal repayment of housing loan should be considered for a separate or standalone exemption.
Moreover, CREDAI said the definition of affordable housing, which was capped at Rs 45 lakh, was given in 2017 and is yet to change since.
"Due to inflation alone, there has been significant rise in real estate prices in the past 7 years. As per data from the National Housing Bank (NHB), there has been an increase of 24 per cent in housing rates since June 2018 in India, which makes the current cap of Rs 45 lakh extremely unfeasible for developers to adhere to," it argued.
CREDAI has recommended that the definition of affordable housing to be revised as "a unit with 90 square meter RERA carpet area in Metros Cities and 120 square meter RERA Carpet Area in Nonmetros without a cap on cost of the unit".
