Can a government relief really going to revive the real estate sector?

Zooming through numerous webinars on the revival of real estate sector one should have noted that prominent recommendations included goods and services tax (GST) input credit, a reduction in GST rates, a reduction in municipal charges, limited period zero stamp duty, etc. to revive the industry.

There is no question that several of these steps are much-needed, and should be enforced. There is however a difference between supply-side survival and demand-side revival.

The above interventions should provide developers with the much-required ventilator but not a long-term immunity. It has been proved time and time again that the industry’s long-term viability rests only in the vaccine labelled “home sales”.

What is therefore important is to address the key reasons that dissuade customers from buying a home. Interestingly, many of these can be addressed without the government losing revenue.

With a growing amount of incidences of under-construction projects being stuck due to approval-related problems or lack of financial resources to developers, buyers are already averse to under-construction purchases, even though it implies more options and better prices.