The Indian real estate industry was always known to be a male-dominated industry. In recent years, however, the participation of women in this sector has increased considerably. Being the second largest employer after agriculture it has the capacity to absorb the fairer gender considerably. Women are increasingly investing in modern housing properties such as Raunak Unnathi Woods in Mumbai.
According to a report by Track 2 Realty, women contribute to nearly 74% of the real estate buying decisions. This is also due to certain prominent advantages that women enjoy over men in India when it comes to investing in real estate:
-> Lower interest rates on home loans- Most of the financial institutions in India offer home loans for women at comparatively lower interest rates. The reason behind this is that women have lesser chances of default and hence, banks are likelier to give loans to women.
For instance, Home Loans by Bajaj Finserv Homes & Loans is designed to cater special financial needs of a woman. It comes with easy eligibility criteria and minimum documentation, and offer many exclusive features like property-search assistance, doorstep services, high-value top-up loans etc.
-> Compulsory co-ownership- In order to empower women from lower socio-economic classes, the Union government’s ‘Housing for All’ mission makes it compulsory for a woman to be either joint owner or the sole owner of housing property bought under the scheme.
-> Lower stamp duty- Women are required to pay lower stamp duty in many Indian states. For example, in Delhi and Haryana, stamp duty for women is two percent lower. This means that if the property is registered in the name of a woman, you can save a healthy amount by paying less stamp duty.
-> Tax benefits- Under sections 24 and 80C of The Income Tax Act, individual women homebuyers are eligible for tax deductions of up to Rs. 3.5 lakh on repaying the interest and principal components of a home loan. This means that if a property is purchased jointly with a woman, both husband and wife can avail individual tax benefits on home loans.
-> Women in the real estate business
The expansion and diversification of real estate companies in recent years has prompted the inclusion of more women into the sector. Most of them feature strongly at the lower level and middle management positions of the industry, but their numbers are lower in the leadership position.
There are, however, many aberrations in which women have taken leadership roles in the real estate sector. Manju Yagnik – Vice Chairman of the Nahar group, Darshana Parmar Jain – Deputy Managing Editor of the Parmar Group, Rubi Arya – Executive Vice Chairman of Milestone Capital Advisors, etc are prominent examples of women who hold high positions when it comes to the real estate industry in India.
Also, there are many projects in India that offer special discounts and schemes to women homebuyers. For example, if you’re looking to purchase flats in Mumbai, you can check out Raunak Unnathi Woods Phase 6 in Thane. You can buy a 1BHK flat with all modern amenities at a starting price of just Rs. 51.63 lakh.
