Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme is one of the most anticipated schemes of the Govt. of India, whose main aim is to construct housing projects at affordable rates. You can avail the benefits of buying homes with low-interest rates, even if your parents have their own homes. The project aims to provide a roof to over 20 million urban poor people by the year 2022.
Under this, there is a Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) on home loans for properties in the urban market belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG), and Middle Income Group 1 & 2 (MIG). It can be availed for new or resale purchase of a home, construction, or for extension or improvement of rooms, kitchen, toilet, etc.
Calculate your PMAY CLSS subsidy by inputting your annual family income, loan amount, loan tenure, and your carpet area in sq. meters by clicking the link below
In order to avail of subsidies on loans from the government, every applicant needs to meet the eligibility criteria set by the PMAY committee. Prospective applicants have been branched into four distinct groups:
Applicant Groups
Eligibility Details
Economically Weaker Section (EWS)
People who earn an annual household income of less than Rs.3 lakh come under the EWS category
Light Income Group (LIG)
People who earn an annual household income ranging between Rs.3 lakhs to 6 lakhs.
Medium Income Group (MIG1)
People who earn an annual household income ranging between Rs.6 lakhs to 12 lakhs.
Medium Income Group (MIG2)
People who earn an annual household income ranging between Rs.12 lakhs to 18 lakhs.
There are preferences given for Minorities and Women in EWS and LIG groups. The applicant or its dependents should be a first-time home buyer and should not own a pucca property at the time of availing the scheme.
Benefitsof Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
The PMAY advantages can be availed by the individual who can take a loan for the construction of a house. You can avail of the primary loan from any leading organization such as commercial banks, housing finance companies, cooperative banks, etc. There won’t be any processing charge applicable under this scheme.
The subsidies offered are dependent upon the loan amount and the income group you fall in. Applicants with income up to Rs. 6 Lakhs can avail of a maximum subsidy of Rs. 2.67 Lakhs for a home-related loan. Applicants with income up to Rs. 12 lakhs can avail of a maximum subsidy of Rs. 2.35 lakhs. Similarly, applicants with income above 12 lakhs up to 18 lakhs can avail of a maximum subsidy of Rs. 2.30 lakhs.
It has benefits for the builders as well and to avail them, the builders have to complete the housing project in 3 years.
Procedure for applying for PMAY Scheme
You can apply PMAY scheme online, or you can visit any bank or housing finance company and enquire about the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme.
The documents required for applying are very basic:
Address proof documents & photograph
Identity proof documents with photograph
Aadhar Card
Salary slips or bank-certified bank statements for salaried applicants
Income tax returns for the last two years and bank statement of 6 months for self-employed
Affidavit of proof of income
There may be a few other requirements depending on the financial institution that you approach.
So, if you are interested in availing of the benefits of PMAY, just start by deciding on a location, a builder, and a bank that will give you a home loan subsidy under CLSS.
Indeed there are a lot of questions laced with anxiety. Will 2018 be a better time to invest in real estate? After a slowdown in 2017, will real estate be back on track in 2018? The year 2017 set an unexpected precedent. It saw a 30% drop in the number of units sold as compared to 2016.
With demonetization in later 2016 reducing the availability of cash, along with GST and RERA, the real estate section experienced tension amongst buyers and sellers alike. Although, it saw a change in the attitude of the buyers preferring well-known developers at a premium, and a greater demand for 2 & 3 BHK homes, yet buyers were holding back purchases in anticipation of final RERA notifications.
Experts believe that the year 2018 will witness a new transitional phase for real estate in India. The market is expected to show a sign of improvement, for the sector is becoming more buyers friendly with newer reforms. In that pretext, let us dive into the three significant questions for 2018.
What are the existing challenges of buying property in India?
Regulatory Pressure: Like in 2017, developers will have to confront the effect of RERA by concentrating on finishing the ongoing projects. As the supply of ready-to-move-in properties will expand, builders will confront the challenge of finishing the task on a specified due date.
Single Window Clearance: Property clearance for a real estate developer takes from 18 months to 3 years. Single window clearances as envisaged won’t just cut down the project delay but significantly impact the construction costs.
Home Loan Interest Limit: The rising of the home loan interest limit from 2 lakhs for one financial year to 5 lakhs will make the purchase of a home very attractive to individuals. It will increase the demand for homes as consumers will save more on taxes.
GST Rate: 2018 has seen clarity on GST in the real estate industry. There is no GST for completed, ready-to-move-in properties, properties for which a completion certificate has been issued, and for resale of properties.
Rising Input Cost: The real estate industry is both capital and labour intensive. Labour availability, unstable price fluctuations in the concrete industry and other dependent industry impacts the real estate industry significantly.
Growth opportunities in buying a house in India
Focus on Delivery: 2018 will see developers concentrate on finishing the ongoing ventures within the due date. Henceforth, this year should witness significant sale deals being closed quickly. The buyer stands to gain by getting his home at a good price.
Tax Incentives: The government is doing its best to help boost the ‘reasonable housing’ segment through credit-linked subsidy schemes. It accompanies a 4% subsidy, as it deducts one-third of the amount charged for the house towards the cost of land.
Changes in 2017 to shape 2018 and ahead:
With RERA and GST stabilising in 2018, both buyers and builders will have to get a new outlook on how the real estate business is done. Although there is GST for under-developed projects, there will be enhanced transparency that will help both the buyers and the builders.
Clean Capital: RERA and Demonetisation have changed the entire process of building and purchase of a home. Investors and banks have further opened up the road for clean capital in 2018.
PMAY: housing for all: The objective of the Prime Minister to construct homes for all by 2022 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana will definitely get a noteworthy change financially with $1.3 trillion. This will make 60 million new houses and 2 million occupations throughout the following 4-5 years. Urban real estate should see a significant lift in 2018, and affordable housing could rise as the new trend.
Favourable Low Interest: The excess liquidity due to demonetisation has made it possible for banks to lower home loan interest rates. It is expected that EMIs will significantly come down, enabling savings for home buyers.
Affordable HousingPlans: The budget of 2017 had proposals that could benefit and boost the real estate sector in the year 2018. The focus was on affordable housing. One such initiative was to award a 100% tax deduction of profits to an undertaking in affordable housing ventures for flats.
Is the price of real estate in India likely to rise or fall?
After the dip in real estate prices in 2017, residential prices are expected to remain for the most part stable over the following couple of months. As envisaged, there hasn’t been a huge plunge in costs to the extent that the primary market is worried. The year 2018 is probably not going to portray any value increase, nonetheless, experts believe that the current changes will boost the trust and certainty of the home buyers and the sales are probably going to rise in 2018.
With everything taken into account, the year 2018 will remain a decent time to purchase. It is normal that the market will see more alternatives in ready stock since more project completions are expected. As of now, there has been a lack of new project launches because of the introduction of RERA, which could negatively affect the supply of land or real estate properties.
The outlook for the year 2018 is as follows:
The residential segment has been low in 2017 because of demonetization, GST and RERA. Deals backed off; general projects likewise declined. It created a great deal of liquidity crunch. The effect was felt more in NCR and Mumbai, however, the real estate industry has endured on the whole. The positive side is that the affordable housing segment is gearing up.
Going ahead, the standpoint for the residential sector in 2018 is extremely idealistic. Supply is coming in the affordable housing segment, which is the place where most of the demand is coming from. As the economy picks up, the development from rural to urban will quicken. So there will be a significantly increased demand for houses.
To sum it up, 2018 will pose a few difficulties for the real estate sector to the extent to which home deals and costs are concerned. Builders will turn out to be more acquainted with GST and RERA which should enable them to design their projects better. Home sales may remain weak. Property costs may be under strain due to high unsold inventory and even more pressure in the luxury housing segment in places like NCR and Mumbai.
Figuring out how to buy a house is no small feat—particularly since the rules keep on changing. More than the rules, there are other subjective factors that we tend to overlook in the decision to buy a house. On the whole, buying a home in Guwahati or anywhere takes time and you have to give that much time.
Here is a list of five points that are normally overlooked while working out the modalities of a home loan and other supposedly serious considerations:
1. Hire a Lawyer
First, before you buy a house, hire a lawyer by paying him Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 to go through all documents on the land and the property. It is difficult for a consumer to understand title deeds, land use agreements, mandatory approvals from the municipality, occupational certificates, taxation etc. Since buying a home is a long-term purchase or an investment, it is imperative that we don’t get surprises after the purchase even in the distant future.
2 Estimate Total Cost of Ownership
The total ownership cost is often more than an agent or a builder quotes. We must include parking charges, stamp duty, registration charges, maintenance charges, property tax, increased commuting charges, electrical gadgets etc in the calculation of the total cost of ownership. All this could contribute to almost 10-20 percent of the base cost of the apartment.
Moreover, it is important to understand the final usable area of the apartment, especially in the case of apartments under construction. Most of the time, the sale would be in a super-built-up area and it affects the cost-to-benefit analysis.
3. Neighbours
Before you buy a house it is always safe to check whether most of the other occupants in the building are like-minded and in a similar age group. If the residents are not like-minded, conflicts emerge eventually over a period of time creative stress. Decisions about how to maintain the building, adjusting parking spaces, whether pet animals are allowed, how many security men, use of lifts, terraces and other common areas etc may become very discomforting if the co-occupants are not homogeneous.
Some people avoid staying in buildings with a mix of 1BHK, 2BHK, and 3BHK apartments as the income levels of occupants differ and cause grief in the long run.
4. Check the Location before you buy a house
It would be best if you spoke with the watchman or the watchman of the neighbouring building to find out the situation of water supply, electricity supply, availability of domestic help, level of security and safety, neighbourhood grocery stores, deliveries from restaurants, gyms, daycare centres, hospitals and schools etc, depending on your life situation, and your needs.
We need to find out if any neighbouring small building or bungalow has the potential to be converted into a taller building, which can block your view in the next 3 to 5 years.
If you are buying the apartment as an investment, think through the profile of your typical tenant and whether the location of your apartment is good enough for such a tenant. If it is a commuting couple, see if the apartment is close to the railway station. If there is a parking space, check if you require two parking slots.
5. Know your builder before you buy a house
The real estate company or your builder in Guwahati has to do a lot right to give you your dream home without any hassle. Even if you need to pay a premium, a credible builder is worth that premium, considering a lifetime investment and peace of mind. We need to do research on the other projects that the builder has delivered or is under construction, by speaking to other home buyers.
Starting from the water quality, quality of build and amenities, there are other serious issues like commencement certificate, land title deeds, approved building plans and clearances by various authorities like the municipality, the environment etc, that depends on professionalism and ability of the builder.
