2018, Union Budget was announced on 1, February, and it has gained some major reactions from experts all over the country. If we talk about real estate, in particular, the new budget falls somewhere between 'beneficiary' as well as 'not good enough'.

Real estate experience holders such as Pankaj Bajaj Eldeco and President of CREDAI-NCR believes that dedicating an affordable homes fund under NHB (National Housing Bank) is a beneficial aspect of the new budget. He says:

“While we welcome the move, it would have been better to do away with this provision entirely as in many places, the market prices are way below the circle rates. The Budget announced the Affordable Housing Funder under NHB, which will catalyse investments in this sector.”

This action would boost both demand and supply of low-cost homes.
The Finance Minister of India, Mr Arun Jaitley, has established a dedicated Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) in National Housing Bank, funded from priority sector, lending shortfall and fully serviced bonds, authorised by the government of India.

Last years, Union Budget granted affordable housing the status of infrastructure. To boost transactions in the real estate market, this year’s Union Budget has proposed that real sale value of the immovable property would be taken in consideration while taxing income from capital gains if circle rate value does not exceed 5% of the considered ones.

In order to decrease the hardships of the real estate market, already under the burden of RERA, Demonetisation and GST, the Finance Minister proposed that no adjustment shall be made in the transaction, in a case where the circle rate value does not exceed 5% of the considerations.

Hence, the new budget has received mixed reviews from realty experts this year. Some appreciated the Government's move towards affordable housing; others do not consider it much beneficiary for the real estate market, which has already suffered enough for the past two years under the triple tsunami of Demonetisation, RERA and GST.