Bringing back the homebuyers into the State’s residential real estate sector, NAREDCO Maharashtra has announced yet another spell of zero- stamp duty on housing sales until 31st December 2020. The decision will allow more homebuyers to buy affordable and luxury residential properties at the lowest ever prices during the pandemic. Over 1,000 NAREDCO Maharashtra members have offered their properties for sale under this scheme.Buoyed with a demand upsurge that pushed the housing sales in Mumbai and Pune to top the national sales charts with a share of 41 percent, NAREDCO Maharashtra is eyeing a similar kind of growth in residential segment by 31st December due to the developer–borne stamp duty waiver. NAREDCO informed that the zero-stamp duty pushed Mumbai’s residential realty sales by 300 percent from August 2020 to October 2020. The trade body also expects a major policy upheaval like the affordable rental policy of the Government, the proposed Housing Policy of the Maharashtra State and the Finance Minister’s announcement providing tax relief to both the developers and homebuyers with respect to the relaxations granted under the Section 43 (CA) and Section 56 (2)(X) of the Income Tax Act. These policies together will play a major role in shaping up the demand. With a sharp demand correction over the pre – Covid levels, the apex body of developers is now eyeing to tighten the liquidity for the sector’s growth by calling upon the foreign investors to invest in eligible projects. Supported by a solid ‘thrive – back’ story of the sector during the pandemic, the Government’s pro-industry reforms and euphoric realty buying sentiments in the country, the trade body in association with Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) is set to organise India’s biggest three–day ‘Real Estate and Infrastructure Investors’ Summit (REIIS) – 2020’ from November 25th to 27th to boost investments in Indian Real EstateAnnouncing the decision of a zero – stamp duty until 31st December and the proposed Summit, Ashok Mohanani, President, NAREDCO Maharashtra said, “It’s a win-win for both the homebuyers and the developers, as the zero-stamp duty window will bring more homebuyers of Maharashtra into the buying net. It will not only push the housing sales trajectory; but also send positive signals to the foreign investors to accelerate their investment plans into the sector flushing more liquidity to tighten the supply side. With aggressive measures such as the stamp duty waiver, the launch of HousingForAll portal, ease-of-doing business climate, the foreign investors will start investing heavily in A-Graded income generating asset–classes; where Maharashtra’s real estate space will remain at the centre.”NAREDCO has pegged substantial amount of foreign investment flows into the Indian real estate sector in the next two years. The trade body is expecting a strong action by the foreign investors in the ensuing period and expects major foreign funds like Blackstone, Brookfield, GIC, Xander, Ascendas, CPPIB, Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs expanding their investments into the sector. The Summit partner Anarock predicted USD 8 billion capital inflows in Indian realty sector in the next fiscal. The capital will be pumped in various asset classes across Residential, Commercial, Logistics, Data Centres.Image courtesy: Realty Quarter