Kochi: The 40 per cent growth in demand witnessed in the realty sector at the national level for the past three quarters has not reflected in Kerala mainly due to slowdown in the Middle East economies, experts opined.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the fourth state conference of CREDAI on Friday, Ramesh Nair, CEO and country head JLL, a property consulting firm, said the state was also witnessing a change in profile of apartment property buyers.
Earlier 60-70 per cent of the apartment buyers used to be non-resident Keralites, but now that ratio has reversed with domestic buyers dominating the space.
CREDAI Kerala chapter office bearers endorsed the change in profile of buyers. The high cost of land and construction and delay in getting regulatory appr-ovals are some of the key issues faced by construction industry in state, they said. The average cost of building an apartment in Kerala is '2,700 per sq ft as against '1,700 in other states, said a S.N. Raghuchandran Nair, a former head of CREDAI Kerala.
Speaking after inaugurating the conference MP Shashi Tharoor said Kerala needs socially committed and sustainable model of construction. Sustainable model of construction will not happen when deforestation and illegal constructions are damaging the environment, he added.
CREDAI national president, Jaxay Shah, earlier spoke about the need for streamlining the tax structure in the realty sector. The real estate sector is now paying GST and stamp duty and we have requested the government to spare the sector from the burden of double taxation, he said.
The GST and stamp duty together accounted for nearly 20 percent and this is a huge burden on the customer. A person buying an apartment in the range of Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 cr will have to shell out Rs 15-20 lakh as stamp duty and GST, said Shiv Reddy, Vice-President CREDAi South India.
Mr. Nair of JLL has said that the 40 percent growth witnessed in demand has not made much impact on price. The price has remained flat in real estate sector, he said. The two-day conference will be over on Saturday. END
