director of knight frank indiaanshuman magazine chairman ceo india southeast asia middle east africa cbre told et wealth it is recommended that this be increased to at least rs 4 lakh per annum this tax deduction can also be entirely moved out of section 80c since it gets clubbed with other instruments such as lic ppf etcit is important to increase the tax subsidy on housing loans for both the principal and interest from its historical level of rs 2 lakh and rs 15 lakh an increase in an existing tax deduction for home loans will offset the increased emi burden and leave some surplus to spend and boost the indian economy said shrikant shrivastava chief risk officer of imgc india mortgage guarantee corporationtweak in the affordable housing price bandthe current price band of rs 45 lakh for a property to be considered under affordable housing is not appropriate in most of the cities in india mentioned expertsfor instance a price band of rs 45 lakh or below is far too low in a city like mumbai where it should be increased to rs 85 lakh or more in other major cities the qualifying price band should be increased to rs 6065 lakh puri saidthe government should seriously consider revising the price bandwidths for homes to qualify as affordable housing to align with the market dynamics of different cities said puriredefining affordable housing is long due considering the change in the housing sector in the last few years the size of units as per the current definition 60 sq m carpet area in urban centers is fairly appropriate but a price band of up to rs 45 lakh for affordable housing is not appropriate across most cities in india said raj khosla founder and md mymoneymantracomso a revision in the affordable housing price bank will help more houses to qualify under affordable housing and more homebuyers could avail of the present benefits such as reduced gst at 1 per cent without itc and other government subsidies said expertsrelaxation of capital gains criteria to support homebuyersunder section 54 of the incometax act longterm capital gains from sales of the existing house can be utilized in buying or constructing a new property if the investment for exemption is done through an underconstruction property it can be claimed only if the construction of the property is completed within three years of the sale of the earlier houseresidential projects are continuously increasing in scale in terms of the number of units height and amenities which causes them to have completion timelines in excess of three years also while the implementation of rera has caused an improvement the completion timelines of underconstruction projects frequently exceed deadlines this causes significant hinderances to homebuyers in settingoff capital gains in underconstruction properties to mitigate this we recommend that the completion timeline of underconstruction properties be extended to five years instead of the existing three said shishir baijal chairman managing director of knight frank