In order to ensure compliance with established standards across the construction industry the Minister of Finance shall be introducing the new Construction Industry Development Board Bill. As for the real estate sector, this year’s budget includes the following measures:
- Reducing the property registration time to 15 working days;
- Allowing developers to take larger deposits under the Morcellement Act;
- Amendments to the Registration Duty Act and the Land (Duties and Taxes) Act to:
- Avoid double payment of registration duties on property leasing;
- Set registration duty payable on acquisition of an IRS residence to the higher of USD 70,000 and 5% of property value;
- Make transfer of shares in companies holding immovable property subject to land transfer tax;
- Increase current rates of land transfer tax by 5% for transactions where land value exceeds Rs50M (to 10% and 15%)
