What is the difference between a construction linked plan and a down payment plan?

In a construction linked plan you pay in instalments tied to building milestones such as floor slabs and finishing work. In a down payment plan you pay most of the price within a short period after booking, usually for a rebate. Opus One in New Chandigarh, for example, asks for about 90% of the basic price within 180 days under its down payment plan, which carries a 12% rebate on the price list.

Is a down payment plan a good idea?

It can save money if the project is delivered on time, but most of your money is paid before the building is finished, so delay risk sits with you. It suits buyers with funds in hand who are buying from a developer with a good delivery record, after the rebate has been confirmed in writing.

What is a 25:25:25:25 payment plan?

It splits the price into four equal parts, typically at booking, at a structure milestone, at structure completion and at possession. Opus One in New Chandigarh, for example, asks for 25% of the basic price within 90 days of booking, 25% on completion of half the structure, 25% on completion of the full structure and 25% with the extra charges on offer of possession.

Does the payment plan change the GST I pay?

No. GST on an under-construction home outside the affordable category is 5% without input tax credit, under the rates in force since 1 April 2019, and it is charged on each instalment whatever the plan. Check your own case with your CA.

Can I take a home loan with a down payment plan?

Often yes, but many banks release loans in step with construction, so they may not fund a large early instalment before the building reaches that stage. Ask your bank how it will disburse under the plan before you choose.

How much can a builder take before the agreement for sale?

Under Section 13(1) of the RERA Act, a promoter cannot take more than 10% of the cost as an advance or application fee without first entering into and registering a written agreement for sale with the buyer.

Construction Linked Plan vs Down Payment Plan vs Possession Linked Plan: Which Suits You?

Property1313 Team · October 5, 2026 · 11 min read

Two flats in one tower can cost you very differently depending on how you pay for them. That is why the construction linked plan vs down payment plan question deserves more thought than it usually gets at a booking table. The plan decides how much of your money is tied up in an unfinished building, how your home loan behaves, and sometimes the price itself.

Below we take the plans you will meet in the Tricity one by one, using the actual schedules printed on price lists for projects we list in Mohali, Zirakpur and New Chandigarh.

If you only remember a few lines from this guide, make them these five points before you sign:

A construction linked plan (CLP) ties each payment to a stage of building. Your risk stays roughly in step with progress.
A down payment plan asks for most of the price early, often within months, usually in exchange for a rebate or discount.
Structure linked and possession linked plans keep a bigger share for the end, such as 25:25:25:25.
A time linked plan follows the calendar, not the construction. Check what happens if the building falls behind.
GST, PLC, IFMS and club charges do not change with the plan. Compare the net price, not the headline rate.

What a payment plan really decides

Every plan answers three questions. How much do you pay before the building exists? Who carries the cost if construction slows down? And does paying early earn you a lower price? Different buyers need different answers, which is why most developers print two or three plans on the same sheet.

There is also one rule that applies to all of them. Section 13(1) of the RERA Act, 2016 says a promoter cannot take more than 10% of the cost of a flat as an advance or application fee without first signing a written agreement for sale with you and registering it. So whatever the plan says about the booking stage, ask when the agreement will be executed and registered.

Construction linked plan: pay as the building rises

In a CLP you pay a booking amount, and then instalments fall due when the developer reaches stated milestones: the raft, particular floor slabs, the end of the structure, finishing work, and possession.

What surprises buyers is how front-loaded some CLPs are. Look at the booking stage on a few real price lists from our listings:

The Vibe, Zirakpur: 30% at booking, then 10% at the start of the raft, 10% on completion of the stilt, 5% at each of nine later stages, and only 5% at possession.
Genesis Heights, Zirakpur: 30% at booking, then 10% at each of seven stages from the basement raft to possession.
The Pinnacle, Sector 83 Alpha, Mohali: 25% at booking, 30% on half of the structure, 15% when the structure is complete, 10% at the start of finishing work, 10% at the start of paint work and 10% on offer of possession.
Vamana Arvindam, Zirakpur: 10% on booking, but 15% within 7 days and another 15% within 20 days, so 40% is paid in under three weeks, then 35% at the start of the 12th floor, 20% at the start of flooring and 5% on offer of possession.

And Opus One in New Chandigarh spreads its CLP more evenly: ₹15 lakh on booking, ₹20 lakh within 30 days, 25% of the basic price within 90 days, then 10% at each of five slab milestones from the ground floor to the 32nd floor, 5% when finishing starts, 10% on applying for the occupation certificate and 10% plus the extra charges on possession.

The lesson: "construction linked" can mean 5% or 25% left for the end. If the developer slows down, the share you have not yet paid is your leverage. Read the milestones, not just the plan name.

Down payment plan: pay early, ask for the rebate

In a down payment plan you pay most of the price within a short window after booking. In return the developer usually offers a rebate or a lower rate, because it gets your money when it needs it most.

Opus One shows how this works on paper. Its down payment plan carries a 12% rebate on the price list. You pay ₹15 lakh on booking, ₹20 lakh within 30 days, 25% within 90 days including the booking amount, 65% of the basic price within 180 days, and the last 10% with the extra charges on possession. On a 3,305 sq.ft. home with a basic sale price of ₹3,63,21,950, that 65% instalment alone is about ₹2.36 crore, and about 90% of the basic price is paid within six months.

A commercial example works the same way. Plan A at Vintage Arcade, an SCO project on PR-7 Airport Road, Zirakpur, asks for 25% at booking and the remaining 75% within 15 days.

The trade-off is simple to state and hard to weigh. You save money if the project is delivered as promised. If it is late, you have already paid almost everything, and your remedies are the ones in the Act: under Section 18 you can ask for interest for every month of delay or, if you want to withdraw, a refund with interest. In Punjab that interest is the State Bank of India's highest marginal cost of lending rate plus two per cent (Rule 16 of the Punjab RERA rules). Remedies take time, so the developer's record and the project's RERA updates matter more on this plan than on any other.

Ask exactly how the rebate is calculated, whether it applies to the basic price only or to other charges too, and get the net figure in writing. A rebate quoted as a percentage on one line of the sheet can look different once PLC and other charges are added back.

Structure linked and possession linked plans

These plans hold back a larger share until the building is up or handed over. The well-known version is 25:25:25:25.

On our current price lists, the clearest example is Opus One in New Chandigarh, and its sheet sets the steps out like this, with the final quarter left for handover:

Opus One, New Chandigarh, has a structure-linked plan of this kind: ₹15 lakh on booking, 10% within 30 days including the booking amount, a further 15% within 90 days, 25% on completion of half the structure, 25% on completion of the full structure, and 25% plus the extra charges on offer of possession.

A pure possession linked plan goes further, with a small amount at booking and most of the price at handover. None of the price lists quoted in this article offers one, and where you do find it, the rate is often higher than under a CLP, because the developer has to fund construction from elsewhere. That is a reasonable price for safety if you need it, for example if you are selling your present home and will only have the money at possession.

Time linked plan: the calendar, not the building

A time linked plan sets instalments by date. The Pinnacle's price list offers one alongside its CLP: 10% at booking, 10% every six months after that, and the last 10% on offer of physical possession, with GST extra on each instalment.

Time linked plans are easy to budget for, because you know your dates in advance. The catch is that payments do not slow down if construction does. Before choosing one, compare the payment calendar with the completion date in the project's RERA registration. The Pinnacle's registration, for instance, gives 31 January 2034 as its completion date.

Vintage Arcade's Plan B is a time linked plan for a commercial unit: 25% at booking, 25% within 15 days, 20% within three months, 20% within six months and 10% at possession.

Comparing plans for a specific project? Call or WhatsApp Property1313 on 89100 01313. We will lay the plans on the current price sheet side by side for your unit, in rupees and with dates, so you can see the cash you need each quarter.

Construction linked plan vs down payment plan vs the rest: side by side

Here is the comparison in one place. Treat it as a starting point, since every price sheet differs.

Plan	When you pay	Example	Price	Delay risk	Suits
Construction linked	At building milestones	The Pinnacle, 25% at booking and 55% by half of the structure	The standard rate	Shared, as payments wait for the next milestone	Most buyers with a home loan
Down payment	Most of it within months	Opus One, about 90% of the basic price within 180 days	A rebate (12% on the Opus One sheet)	Mostly yours	Buyers with cash, buying from a developer with a strong delivery record
Structure / possession linked	Bigger share at structure end or handover	Opus One 25:25:25:25, a quarter left for possession	Same or a higher rate	Lower for you	Buyers who will have funds later, for example from selling a home
Time linked	Fixed dates	The Pinnacle, 10% every six months	As printed on the sheet	Yours if work falls behind the calendar	Buyers who want predictable dates and trust the timeline

What stays the same whatever plan you pick

Some costs do not move with the plan, and they are where comparisons often go wrong.

GST. Under the rates in force since 1 April 2019, GST on an under-construction home outside the affordable category is 5% without input tax credit, and 1% for affordable housing, according to the GST Council's real estate FAQ. It is charged on each instalment. A finished flat sold after the completion certificate is generally outside GST. Check your own case with your CA.
Floor PLC, club membership and IFMS. At Opus One the club charge is ₹15,00,000 and IFMS ₹75 per sq.ft.; at The Pinnacle the club is ₹9,00,000 and IFMS ₹75 per sq.ft. These are usually collected at possession under every plan.
Stamp duty and registration, paid when the sale deed or conveyance deed is registered. Our Punjab guide covers the rates.

Your side has duties too: if you pay an instalment late, Section 19(7) lets the developer charge you interest at the same prescribed rate. Keep a calendar of milestones and ask the developer to send demand letters by e-mail as well as post.

Home loans and payment plans

Most banks release a home loan for an under-construction flat in stages, in step with construction, and usually after the agreement for sale and a tripartite agreement between you, the bank and the developer are signed. This fits a CLP naturally. With a down payment plan, the bank may not release a large share of the loan before the building has reached that stage, which means the early instalments may have to come from your own funds. Ask your bank before you choose.

While the loan is being released in parts, many banks charge interest only on the amount disbursed, often called pre-EMI interest, until the full loan is drawn or you choose to start full EMIs. That cost is real and should be counted when you compare plans. Try different amounts and tenures on our EMI calculator, and read our home loan guide for Punjab buyers.

So which plan should you choose?

A few situations we see often at site visits, and how we would think each of them through:

You are salaried and taking a large loan: a CLP keeps your outgo matched to the bank's disbursements and to the building's progress.
You have the full amount in hand and the developer has delivered before: a down payment plan can save real money, provided the rebate is confirmed in writing and you are comfortable with the delay risk.
You will have funds only later, say from selling an existing flat: a structure or possession linked plan, even at a slightly higher rate, may be the calmer choice.
You are buying a finished flat: none of this applies. Pay against the sale deed, and see our guide on ready-to-move vs under-construction flats.

Whatever you choose, check the project's RERA registration and its latest quarterly update first, so you know how far construction really is before you commit money to it. This step-by-step guide shows how.

You can see full payment plans on the Opus One and The Pinnacle pages, and set projects side by side on our compare page.

Not sure which plan fits your budget? Tell us the project, the unit and how you plan to fund it. Call or WhatsApp 89100 01313, or leave your details on the contact page, and an advisor will work through the numbers with you. Check the final structure with your bank and your lawyer before signing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a construction linked plan and a down payment plan?: In a construction linked plan you pay in instalments tied to building milestones such as floor slabs and finishing work. In a down payment plan you pay most of the price within a short period after booking, usually for a rebate. Opus One in New Chandigarh, for example, asks for about 90% of the basic price within 180 days under its down payment plan, which carries a 12% rebate on the price list.
Is a down payment plan a good idea?: It can save money if the project is delivered on time, but most of your money is paid before the building is finished, so delay risk sits with you. It suits buyers with funds in hand who are buying from a developer with a good delivery record, after the rebate has been confirmed in writing.
What is a 25:25:25:25 payment plan?: It splits the price into four equal parts, typically at booking, at a structure milestone, at structure completion and at possession. Opus One in New Chandigarh, for example, asks for 25% of the basic price within 90 days of booking, 25% on completion of half the structure, 25% on completion of the full structure and 25% with the extra charges on offer of possession.
Does the payment plan change the GST I pay?: No. GST on an under-construction home outside the affordable category is 5% without input tax credit, under the rates in force since 1 April 2019, and it is charged on each instalment whatever the plan. Check your own case with your CA.
Can I take a home loan with a down payment plan?: Often yes, but many banks release loans in step with construction, so they may not fund a large early instalment before the building reaches that stage. Ask your bank how it will disburse under the plan before you choose.
How much can a builder take before the agreement for sale?: Under Section 13(1) of the RERA Act, a promoter cannot take more than 10% of the cost as an advance or application fee without first entering into and registering a written agreement for sale with the buyer.