>>I don't how you never experienced or know that this PAN card requirement is not much.
You literally can't register a property in Bangalore without a PAN card. So please... AND the registrations are online. Everything is tracked. And in fact people themselves prefer its tracked because it prevents encroachment, double registrations etc.
>>A lot of land/home transaction involves large amount of unaccounted cash and this does not reflect on registered property price.
This was there long back. People keep repeating this, without any basis. The government can evaluate every single property and its evaluation traded as of at least 15 years now.
>>Also if land price is 'obviously high' why rental yields are lowest in India compared to price of property.
Because of several things. Firstly Land prices are high because individual people want them. Second when home units are built they are built several units over a single piece of land. Thirdly rental yields are also dependent on quality of construction, access to infrastructure, locality etc.
>>Who would really buy real estate if bank fixed deposits give better returns than rental income?
Simple reason. If you put money in fixed deposits inflation will eat the principle and you will eat the returns. Liquid money is easy to spend so it goes fast. Real estate is hard to dispose, so it stays and can be transferred over to the next generations.
Plus land rates appreciate, and you get rental yield and you can use the deposit money to earn interest. Beyond this you get the advantage of owning a piece of real estate in prime locations as time passes.
Stock investments require a lot of baby sitting and economic problems like these its hard for people to make decisions. Money once gone cannot be recovered easily. In case of real estate lands don't rot or vanish.
Looking at it from multiple vantage points, Land ownership is by far the best investment you will make in a country like India.