Ready to Move or Under Construction: Which Flat Makes Sense in Ahmedabad?

A ready to move flat in Ahmedabad costs you no GST if the whole price is paid after BU permission, and you can live in it or let it out from day one. An under construction flat lets you pay in stages and often buy earlier in a project, but you pay 5% GST on top and carry the risk of a late handover. On a ₹1.5 Cr flat, the GST alone is ₹7,50,000.

Our rule of thumb: if you need to move in within about 18 months, or your loan is already stretched, buy ready. If you can wait and the project’s GujRERA record is clean, under construction can make sense. The sections below show the arithmetic and the checks behind that view.

What is the GST on under construction flats?

Since 1 April 2019, a builder selling a flat under construction charges GST at an effective 5% of the total price, without input tax credit. A flat that qualifies as affordable is charged 1%. The GST rate FAQs issued by CBIC’s Tax Research Unit set out both rates. The September 2025 GST rate changes did not alter these entries.

The affordable test is narrower than most buyers expect. Ahmedabad is not one of the metropolitan cities named in the notification, so a flat qualifies only if both conditions hold:

• carpet area of up to 90 sq m (about 969 sq ft), and
• a gross amount charged of no more than ₹45 L.

The lowest starting price among the residential projects we track is ₹51 L, at Ideal Iris near Vaishnodevi Circle, so none of them clears the ₹45 L limit. Expect to pay 5%.

How much more does an under construction flat cost once GST is added?

Here is the same ₹1.5 Cr flat bought both ways, assuming the agreed price is above the jantri value, so stamp duty is charged on the price.

Under construction, bought from the builder:

Ready to move, whole price paid after BU permission:

Stamp duty in Gujarat is 4.9% under the Gujarat Stamp Act, and the registration fee is 1%. The registration fee is waived when a woman is the sole buyer. GST goes to the builder, who pays it to the government; stamp duty and the registration fee are paid by you to the state at registration.

So an under construction flat has to be at least 5% cheaper on the base price just to break even with a ready one. Confirm your own figures with a chartered accountant, especially if you are buying through a company or claiming input credit on a commercial unit.

Do you really pay in stages for an under construction flat?

Not always. Gujarat’s model agreement for sale, in the state’s RERA rules, caps what a builder may collect at each stage: no more than 10% before the agreement, 30% after signing, 45% at plinth, 70% once the slabs are cast, and the balance only at possession, after the occupancy certificate. Those are ceilings, and builders can agree faster plans with you. Some in our data do.

On Skyline’s plan, you would pay the whole price by March 2027 for a home declared for September 2029. That is a ready flat’s cash flow with an under construction flat’s risk. If the main reason you are choosing under construction is to spread payments, read the payment plan before the brochure.

Why does a ready flat carry no GST?

Under the GST law, construction of a building for sale is a taxable service except where the entire price is received after the completion certificate or first occupation, whichever is earlier. In a 2020 ruling, the Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling treated the Building Use permission as that completion certificate.

Note the word “entire”. If you pay a booking amount before BU and the rest after, expect the builder to charge GST. That is why the BU date matters as much as the handover date, and why we explain it fully in our post on BU permission in Ahmedabad.

Are under construction flats actually cheaper?

Not always. Compare them per sq ft of carpet area, and add 5% GST to the ones still being built before you decide which is cheaper.

Adani Shantigram shows why. The ready 4 BHK at Paarijat costs less per sq ft of carpet than the 4 BHK at Skyline, which is declared for September 2029. The cheapest under construction 3 BHKs beat Paarijat by only a few percent once GST is added, and a wait of years for a saving that small is not a bargain unless you also value the newer layout.

Our Adani Shantigram price guide works out the carpet price of every plan in the township, and the township comparison lists every tower.

What if possession of an under construction flat is delayed?

The RERA Act gives you two choices under section 18. You can withdraw and get your money back with interest and compensation. Or you can stay and receive interest for every month of delay until handover. In Gujarat the rate is whatever the agreement says, and where it says nothing, the State Bank of India lending rate plus two percent.

Those rights only work if the paperwork is in order. Before booking, check the project end date on GujRERA, look for extension segments in the registration number and read the quarterly progress filings. All three sit on the project page of the GujRERA portal.

What should you check before buying a ready to move flat?

“Ready” is a sales word. Three things make it true:

1. BU permission for the building, with your flat’s floor shown for residential use.
2. On GujRERA, the project end compliance section filled in with the BU number and date.
3. Water, drainage and electricity connections live in your flat, not just in the sample flat.

A new flat bought from the builder also comes with a five year defect liability under section 14 of the RERA Act, counted from the date of possession. Note your possession date carefully, because that is when the clock starts.

Is under construction or ready to move the better investment?

It depends on what you are paid for waiting. Published market figures for H1 2026 put Ahmedabad’s unsold housing at 37,727 units, up 10% from a year earlier, or 8.1 quarters of sales at the current pace. With that much stock, buyers have choice, and the argument for booking early to get a good flat is weaker.

We would buy under construction only from a promoter with completed projects you can visit, at a price that beats the nearest ready option by more than the GST, with a registration that has not already been extended. Otherwise, a ready flat with BU in hand is the calmer purchase.

Our suggestion for your shortlist

Take your two best options, one ready and one under construction, and put them side by side: price per sq ft of carpet, GST, months to possession and the rent or interest you would pay while waiting. If the under construction flat does not win clearly on that sheet, buy the ready one. Browse ready and upcoming projects across Ahmedabad, or ask us to build that sheet with you.