Realtors hail RBI policy, say low interest rate to drive housing demand

Real estate developers and consultants on Thursday welcomed the RBI's decision to keep policy rates unchanged, saying the historical low interest on home loans will continue to drive demand for residential properties.

They also urged prospective homebuyers to enter the market.

Housing demand increased by around 50-70 per cent during the last calendar year across 7-8 major cities on various factors such as low interest rates on home loans, offers-freebies by builders and stable property prices in the last five years.

Commenting on the RBI policy, CREDAI President Harshvardhan Patodia said: "Surplus liquidity available in the system must be made available to sectors that can result in mass employment generation and aid in a faster recovery and economic growth."

Naredco Vice-Chairman Niranjan Hiranandani said the favourable market dynamics in terms of home loan interest rates continues for home buyers. "However, trends indicate that this historic low' may not continue for long, and home seekers would be advised to pick up the home loan while still at such low rates," he added.

CREDAI-MCHI President Boman Irani applauded the RBI policy and said, "this move would act as a catalyst to the ongoing housing demand where homebuyers will be able to benefit and enjoy the lowest home loan rate and realise their dream of owning a house."

Sanjay Dutt, MD & CEO, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, said the decision to keep the rates unchanged will help in continuing the current loan rates which in turn would help home buyers to purchase their dream home at the historic rates until the expected market revision in the second half of 2022.

Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said this policy is good for home loan borrowers.

"A continuation of this low interest rate regime supports the overall environment of affordability for some more time. While the window of opportunity for homebuyers to avail low interest rates has been extended for some more time, it is unlikely to prevail for much longer - sooner or later, repo rates will rise," he added.

"We are optimistic that this steady stance would augur well for home loan borrowers and India's real estate market," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO - India, South East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE.

Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Housing.com and Makaan.com, said the home loan interest rates will continue to hover at record low levels, encouraging buyers to buy property.

Knight Frank India CMD Shishir Baijal said the housing market has been showing a healthy bounce back from the Covid crisis and low interest rates will help in improving affordability and sustaining the growth momentum.

Colliers India CEO Ramesh Nair said: "In the absence of the specific demand-side interventions from the Budget 2022-23, prospective homebuyers can continue to benefit from lower home loan interest rates which are here to stay for now."

Amit Goyal, CEO, India Sotheby's International Realty, said the historically low home loan interest rates will continue for some more time and keep the mood buoyant.

"Real estate, especially the residential segment, has benefited from the historically low benchmark lending rates to a large extent. This is likely to keep gaining strength, as demand has remained consistent in recent quarters," said Anurag Mathur, CEO - Savills India.

Samantak Das, Chief Economist, and Head, Research and REIS, India, JLL, said the RBI's decision is extremely welcome for the Indian real estate sector.

Bengaluru-based Puravankara Ltd CEO Abhishek Kapoor said this decision will enable a larger demographic of consumers to enter the market and invest in real estate.

The record-low lending rates will further give a fillip to the real estate sector, said Atul Banshal, Director Finance, Omaxe Ltd.

Supertech Chairman R K Arora said the unchanged repo rates will help in maintaining the low-interest rate regime and this works well for homebuyers planning to buy homes with help of home loans.

The announcement will certainly improve the market sentiments and bring cheer for the housing sector, said Santosh Agarwal, CFO and Executive Director, Alpha Corp.

Runwal group MD Sandeep Runwal said by keeping the interest rates unchanged, the RBI has clearly indicated that it is looking for sustainable growth and boosting consumer sentiments.

Farshid Cooper, MD, Spenta Corporation, said it is a relief for Indian homebuyers that interest rates will continue to remain unchanged in the near future.

Ram Raheja, Director at S Raheja Realty, said a low home loan interest rate regime has been greatly instrumental in further stimulating India's real estate sector eventually increasing investment and home-buying in the last two years.

"This status quo will create demand for high-involvement products like real estate. Liquidity along with low interest is the key to the recovery of the real estate industry and the overall economy," said Shrey Aeren, Managing Director & Country Head of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Orenda.

Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory, termed it as good news for the housing market as historically a low interest-rate regime has always pushed the real estate market.

This would be an ideal time for homebuyers and corporates looking for properties, to take positive decisions, Xanadu Realty CEO Vikash Chaturvedi said.

Siraj Saiyad, Director, ARETE Group, said the prevailing low interest rate regime will continue for some more time. "With this move the environment for affordability will move well for the home loan borrowers," he added.