Ease of doing biz, lower tax, cheap land key for affordable homes: CREDAI

New Delhi: Real estate law RERA has brought transparency as well as trust in the sector, but there is a need for ease of doing business and rationalisation of taxes to boost supply of affordable homes, according to realtors body CREDAI-NCR.

Addressing a conference organised by industry body CII, CREDAI-NCR President Vishal Gupta also expressed concern over shortages of good quality contractors and skilled labourers.

"The most important thing that has happened to the real estate market in the last 7-8 years has been RERA and that has brought a significant amount of transparency and trust back into the system. But we also now need to layer it with ease of doing business, thereby reducing the inefficiencies of delay," he said, while speaking about the challenges in developing affordable housing projects.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, known as RERA, was enacted by the Parliament to regulate the contractual relationship between homebuyers and promoters. It aims to ensure transparency and accountability in the sector, thereby protecting the interests of the homebuyers.

Gupta, who is MD of Ashiana Housing, pointed out that the industry faces significant delays in getting building plan approvals as well as registration certificates from state real estate regulatory authorities.

"There is a delay in building plan approvals. There is a delay in RERA. There are delays in compliance, which is affecting our affordability. The second area is rationalisation of taxes. We do not have input credits on GST in real estate. It is affecting affordability significantly," he added.

Talking about the need for skilled manpower, Gupta said that there is a dearth of good-quality contractors and workers. He said the workforce is getting more expensive because of the lack of skilled labourers, which in turn leads to an increase in the cost of construction.

"So, we need to figure out how to make our cost more effective," Gupta said.

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The Hans India