The budget is out and it includes some crumbs for real estate and construction sector. Nothing much, but the government has opted for a removal for bifurcations of constructed property and plots to determine property’s holding period to collect cgt. The holding period for cgt imposition has been reduced to 4 years.
The government has also reduced cgt ratio on property disposal.
There is no reduction in the cgt ratio on property disposal if it's sold within the year (the cgt payable will be full) and there will be 25% reduction in the said ratio for the immovable property if it’s sold after a year but not exceeding 2 years. Similarly, there is to be 50% for 3 years, 75% for 4 years and no cgt will apply to properties held for above 4 years. The federal excise duty on cement is down by pkr 25 paisas per kg. The rest is more of the same.
What do you folks think this year will look for the real estate sector? There has been talk of tax reliefs as well. Though nothing is solid yet, but do you think these measures will bring in investment?
