Source: Business Standard ( https://bit.ly/42Uj9uo )

The government’s concentrated efforts on infrastructure development promise to significantly enhance housing demand. The establishment of the India Infrastructure Fund and emphasis on Public-Private partnerships for infrastructure in the budget is also a game-changer for the real estate industry.

Even as the IT hub, which dominated the Indian commercial office market space in 2024, is expected to continue the trend in 2025, real estate and coworking experts in Bengaluru feel that the Union Budget 2025 will be a “game changer” for the industry as a whole.

The union budget for 2025-26 was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.

Ramani Sastri, Chairman & MD of Bengaluru-based Sterling Developers, in a statement, said that the government’s concentrated efforts on infrastructure development promise to significantly enhance housing demand.

“It will also benefit around 250 ancillary industries, generating numerous job opportunities and bolstering overall economic growth,” he added.

According to him, the establishment of the India Infrastructure Fund and emphasis on Public-Private partnerships for infrastructure in the budget is also a game-changer for the real estate industry.

“The establishment of an Urban Challenge Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore will fuel the ongoing momentum in rebuilding urban infrastructure and drive greater demand for real estate in urban and semi-urban areas,” he said.

SWAMIH Fund 2, he added, is also a much-welcome step and will definitely help complete a number of stranded projects, thereby meeting housing demand and enhancing liquidity in the real estate sector.

“Also, the change announced in Budget 2025, allowing taxpayers to claim the annual value of two self-occupied properties as zero, will provide significant tax relief, reduce compliance burdens, and encourage homeownership by making it more affordable for middle-class families, without having to pay income tax on notional rental values of self-occupied homes,” he added.

Sastri said the budget could have also offered a degree of relief to first-time homebuyers to stimulate the real estate sector.