Real Estate gets little relief in Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh Government has recently announced the following concessions to prop up the ailing real estate industry in the state:

The concessions offered are:

* Stamp duty on new houses of area up to 1200 sq.ft would be exempt from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010.

* Building approval and permit fee has also been exempted.

* City level infrastructure is also allowed to be paid in four-six monthly instanlements during th period of construction. 

We believe this would start the process of exempting stamp duty and offering other benefits to real estate developers in various other states as well.  The concessions should be time bound and withdrawn once the overall market recovers in the next 2-3 years.  Else, this would become a matter of right for the consumers and it would lead to large scale protests when these concessions are withdrawn.  The Government would be forced to keep extending the benefit just like what is happening with STPI benefits for IT/ITES companies.  

Coupled with the recent reduction in loan interest rates on housing and the proposed exemption of stamp duty, the buyers gets real bargains while buying the house.