In a big relief to home buyers, the GST Council slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5 per cent without an input tax credit, from the existing 12 per cent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The council also decided to lower the tax rate on affordable housing projects to 1 per cent from 8 per cent. The council also altered the definition of affordable housing and said any house built on an area of 60 square metres or less in the metro cities of India will now be categorised as affordable housing. For non-metro cities, the area would be 90 square metres and below.

In a big relief to home buyers, the GST Council slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5 per cent without an input tax credit, from the existing 12 per cent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The council also decided to lower the tax rate on affordable housing projects to 1 per cent from 8 per cent. The council also altered the definition of affordable housing and said any house built on an area of 60 square metres or less in the metro cities of India will now be categorised as affordable housing. For non-metro cities, the area would be 90 square metres and below.