Real estate to get real: How Modi is setting India's Housing in order

It is clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants homes to be more affordable for the masses. The real estate sector has been under his hard gaze as is evident from the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) which came into force a few months ago.

Modi is tightening his grip on the real estate sector. A magnet for black money, real estate sector is, however, not exactly consumer-friendly, especially for the middle-class buyers. Homebuyers have been at the mercy of builders that often delay deliveries and overcharge.

One more regulation the government is planning to bring will discipline the profit-seekers who have kept the prices high in this essential sector. Unrealistically high home prices might come down if a revenue department proposal gets implemented. It plans to asks builders to pay taxes on their unsold stock of ready houses.

On the basis of a court order, which held that ready unsold flats held by builders as stock-in-trade are liable to be taxed as "income from house property" even if they are not rented out, the income tax department last week suggested the finance ministry that this was one way of garnering more taxes.

Real estate companies show their finished apartments as stock-in-trade and income from these are shown as business income, as in most other businesses.
In a rising market, several developers hold apartments to benefit from the price appreciation that will accrue a few years after the project is complete.

With the new regulation, builders will have to either sell these properties soon, perhaps by offering discounts, or get into expensive litigation.

According to Liases Foras, the unsold inventory including properties that are under construction and completed has risen further from 734 million sq ft or about 734,000 apartments at the end of March to 765 million sq ft or about 760,000 apartments at the end of June.

Since many builders do not bring down prices according to the expectations of the consumers but would rather hold the inventory, a large number of middle-class home buyers are at the risk of 'missing the bus', or being priced out of the market. The Modi government's proactive approach on the real estate sector is expected to bring relief to such home buyers.

Another move which is being considered by the government is linking of property with Aadhaar. This will not only bring transparency to the sector which is the first and last resort of black money but also soften home prices. Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri recently indicated that Aadhaar linkage with property transactions would be made mandatory.

Speaking to Nayantara Rai of ET NOW, Puri said such a move would go a long way in sucking out black money from real estate and also help in crackdown on benami properties. "Seeding Aadhaar to property transaction is a great idea but I’m not going to make an announcement on that. We are already linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, etc, and we can take some additional steps for property market also,” he said.

Those who buy property to hoard black money jack up prices for end consumers. The Aadhaar linkage will hit at benami property and drive out black money from real estate, also making home prices affordable for end buyers.