The Orissa chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) has welcomed the Orissa government’s move to extend reduction in stamp duties from seven per cent to five per cent to residential and commercial projects.
The stamp duty reduction would be applicable to real estate projects in the state, both residential as well as commercial with retrospective effect from February 16, 2008, the date of notification of reduction.
Apart from the stamp duty reduction, Credai-Orissa has also hailed the state government’s decision to make the necessary amendments in the Orissa Development Authority Act and the Orissa Planning and Improvement Trust for repeal of an additional surcharge of three per cent on land and apartments.
The steps taken by the state government is in sync with the guidelines of the National Urban Renewal Mission to rationalise the stamp duty structure throughout the country. “At the time of economic recession, the Orissa government has taken enabling measures to stabilise the real estate market in the state. Property transactions in the city are expected to double following the stamp duty reduction and also the repeal of additional surcharge of three per cent on land and apartments”, said DS Tripathy, secretary, Credai-Orissa.
“The reduction in stamp duty would generate more revenues for the state government and also help curb the black money market in the future. We hope that the Orissa government will take appropriate steps to reduce the stamp duty further to 2-3 per cent in line with Delhi and Maharashtra which have brought down stamp duty to two per cent and one per cent respectively”, he added.
Apart from the enabling steps taken by the state government to fuel demand for real estate projects, the Bhubanswar Development Authority (BDA) has announced its new building norms in December 2008.
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The latest building norms of BDA had done way with height restriction of buildings which was earlier pegged at 27 metres, allowed multi-level car parking for commercial complexes and revised the FAR (Floor Area Ratio) at 2.5 for housing projects ad 2.75 for IT office space.
Earlier, Credai-Orissa had announced a price cut of 10-15 per cent for its new projects to boost the sagging demand for residential projects in the wake of the economic downturn which had impacted bookings for flats in the city by around 20 per cent.