Now, residents of posh colonies in the city would have to loosen their pockets a little more as they will have to pay more property tax compared to residents of other localities. The entire area under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been divided into eight categories, A to H, where category A stands for posh colonies. The MCD has given the final nod to the tax jump that include two per cent rise for residential properties falling under category A and B such as New Friends Colony, Vasant Vihar, Anand Lok. The other categories from C to H are going to see a rise of one per cent from the previous rate. As far as commercial properties are concerned, there has been an increase of 5 per cent from the previous 10 per cent. Source:9 Feb 2010 Hindustan Times

Demand For Realty Likely To Rise In 2010, Says Cushman & Wakefield
The New Year seems to have brought cheers to the realty sector. According to realty consultant, Cushman & Wakefield, Indian cities would see a strong-end user demand for commercial real estate in 2010 with New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore leading the pecking order. These cities would see a combination of improving sentiment with increased expansion of businesses that eventually favour commercial landlords. "The year 2010 is also shaping up to be a strong year for real estate investment. With demand from real estate end users returning, we think investors in core real estate assets will start to aggressively explore opportunities to deploy their funds. This demand will be underpinned by the supportive monetary policy that most Asia-Pacific economies will adopt in most of 2010," a report by the consultancy firm says. Source:8 Feb 2010 The Financial Express

Realtors Demand Home Loan Tax Rebate Be Doubled
The wish list by realtors for the 2010 union budget has some familiar demands and a couple of new ones. The residential sector is likely to face a shortage of about 26.53 million houses by 2012. So, the demands of the sector mainly hover around fulfilling this requirement to buffet their positions. Besides that, income tax exemption for builders is high on the wish list. Mr Pradeep Jain, chairman of the Parsvnath Group, says, "I expect the finance minister to extend the date of tax concessions under Section 80 IB of the Income Tax Act.” Realtors have also demanded that stamp duty rates on property transactions be brought down and the government should make them uniform across all states. 8 Feb 2010 mydigitalfc.com

Realty Rates To Come Down In Ahmedabad By 2011-end
If you are planning to buy an apartment in Ahmedabad, it is advisable that you wait till 2011-end. According to the 2010 report of Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd (CRISIL) on real estate in Ahmedabad, there may be an oversupply of 2 bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) units in the city by 2011-end. Most realty experts agree with this, and say that the expected oversupply of residential units in the city will stabilise (or even bring down) property prices by 2011-end. The report says that an estimated 24.5 million sq. ft of property will be built in Ahmedabad between 2009 and 2011.

Source: 8 Feb 2010 DNA