State needs to relook at Maharashtra Housing Regulation and Development Bill   Diipesh Bhagtani, Executive Director, Jaycee Homes Ltd. Diipesh Bhagtani, a Civil Engineer by profession, is Executive Director of Jaycee Homes. The feisty 29-year-old oversees the entire construction process and operations for the company. With an experience totalling 11 years to date, he has been instrumental in expanding his business manifold. As a new-age Civil Engineer, he can be credited for the introduction of highly sophisticated and modern methods of construction. Under his supervision, Jaycee Homes has been implementing cutting-edge technologies in construction, thereby creating a niche position for itself. Diipesh is also an active member of the exhibition committee of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), the most prominent and the only recognised body of real estate developers in Mumbai and MMR.

The economy of the country is not exactly rosy at the moment, and this has affected the Real estate sector as well. However, the sector is bound to gain momentum as the economy stands to improve in the near future. Some seem to be waiting for the prices to correct from their present levels. Constant hikes in home loan interest rates have dampened market sentiment to a certain extent. However, genuine home buyers are going ahead with their purchases, as rates are unlikely to come down due to the high cost of raw materials and other factors involved in the construction industry.

Recent trends in the industry suggest that buyers prefer to purchase homes in a completed project rather than those in under-construction stages.

Currently, we are developing seven residential projects with an area of about seven lakh sq ft. We are concentrating more on residential projects as of now.

So far, we have concentrated our operations in the financial capital of India - Mumbai, where all our projects are located. But, we are definitely looking to spread our wings to other metros in the country in the near future. We have already acquired properties in Thane, Pune & Indore.

Affordable housing caters to a large segment of home buyers and addresses the bigger issue of providing homes for the economically weaker sections of the society. In line with this, we have acquired 200 acre of property in Thane. Affordable housing offers immense growth potential for the Real estate sector. We believe the government has to play a significant role in taking this forward in terms of building infrastructures. In conjunction with the developers, it has to come up with policies that support the concept of affordable housing.

The new property tax system will bring uniformity in the way property tax is charged across the city. This has been a longstanding demand of the Real estate sector as the old system did not reflect the true value of property, which created wealth formation for a select few. A few select people ended up with properties in prime locations of the city.

Implementation of the capital value based property tax system will help reveal the real value of the property based on the current market rates rather than on rent paid by tenants. The new property tax structure will bring in more transparency into the system and also increase the Brihunmumbai Municipal Corporation's revenues significantly.

The Maharashtra Housing Regulation and Development Bill passed by the state assembly paves the way for the establishment of regulator for the housing sector. It also attempts to demystify some of the popular and often misused terms used in the sector, such as carpet area, built-up and super built-up area. Comment.

The Maharashtra Housing Regulation and Development bill is a step in the right direction in bringing more accountability and transparency in Real estate transactions thus weaving out unscrupulous practices from the Housing sector. This bill will help in building confidence among general public and home buyers alike. This regulatory bill has recently been amended which is one sided and not favourable to the real estate segment. This is a hindrance and a barrier to the growth of the segment as a whole. The state government needs to relook at this bill to make it justified to consumer as well as developer equally.

Though, the overall Bill is welcomed by industry, there are areas where it is one sided and needs to be amended as interest of developers seems to be completely ignored. The government should come up with a more realistic bill which supports the interest of the developer and consumers as well. For an industry like Real estate which does not have a good image due to grievances from consumers, can now hope for an improved image by this bill.