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45 cities have participate in the third round of smart cities challenge, 40 will be selected to be developed as smart cities by the centre. The names of 40 cities expected to be announced by June end, will take the total smart cities count to 100.

Central government launched its top ‘100 Smart City’ mission on June 2015, and announced the first list of 20 cities in January 2016. 23 cities rejected in the first round to upgrade their proposals, of which 13 cities were shortlisted in May 2016. The government in the second round announced the names of 27 more cities to be made smart in September last year. Centre bringing the number of total selected cities to 60.

Government has allocated Rs 48,000 crore for the development of these cities. Each selected city will be given Rs 500 crore over a period of five years, smart city plans worth Rs 1.33 lakh crore for the 60 cities.

The ministry of urban development is also preparing a report card on its Smart City mission as the scheme is set to complete two years of its launch this June. It is collecting data under various heads, like the number of projects completed and those being implemented.

Government, in a bid to give a boost to the real estate sector, had permitted infrastructure status to the affordable housing segment in this year’s budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced interest subsidy of up to 4 percent on loans taken in the New Year under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, and also 33 percent more homes will be built for the poor under this scheme in rural areas.

The CLSS (Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme) announced in a previous budget offered a 6.5% interest subsidy to be credited into the borrower’s account for the first Rs 6 lakh of loan availed for buying a house of 30 and 60 sq m carpet area, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The family income of the buyer was to be within Rs 6 lakh. This amounts to a net subsidy of 21% for the applicant. For the first time the government efforts had been stretched to include the Lower Income Group (LIG) segment and not the social sector of the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) alone.

Now those with upto Rs 12 lakh annual income could avail of the housing subsidy of 4% and those with annual income levels of Rs 18 lakh could avail of subsidy levels of upto 3%. Low interest rates “make it the best time to buy an affordable house in urban India”. This certainly makes a good year to purchase a house.

Therefore, it is a good time to buy now if you don’t own a house.