DHFL reduces home loan lending rates by 50 BPS to 8.60 pct

India's leading housing finance company DHFL has announced that it has reduced its home loan lending rates by 50 basis points from 9.10 percent to 8.60 percent effective January 04, 2017.

"Over the past three decades across semi-urban and tier II and III locations, DHFL has committed itself to transforming the quality of lives of people in the low and middle income segment by enabling access to home ownership. The Government's recent decision to provide interest rate relief to home buyers and to those who wish to plan a home in 2017, as well as several past initiatives have created a growth-enabling and conducive environment for the housing finance sector. We will continue to be prompt and responsive to any initiative in the external environment, as we also continue to undertake several internal measures to benefit our customers as part of our commitment to enable access to home ownership for the LMI segment," said CEO DHFL, Harshil Mehta.

"Our vision is to bring credit to the lower segments of society who actually require it. Our focus will be on creating the right products through innovation and customization and reaching out through our large distribution network to the tier II and III locations," added Mehta.

Despite a strong growth in housing loans in the country in the last few decades, India's housing finance sector has remained relatively underpenetrated compared to its peers as evident by its low mortgage-to-GDP ratio (nine percent as on March 2015), compared to its regional peers (17 percent for Thailand, 20 percent for China, 34 percent of Malaysia).

The current low mortgage penetration offers a huge opportunity for the sector to grow which is anticipated to be supported by India's sustainable development cycle, and the socio-economic transformation that has already been set in motion. This together with several supply side initiatives including the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, and RBI's decision to increase loan-to-value (LTV) ratio are set to enhance transparency and boost confidence of home buyers.

The recent announcement by the Prime Minister to boost mass housing in peripheral areas with attractive interest subventions and increase in the number of homes in rural areas, are tremendously welcome moves particularly for the segment at the bottom of the pyramid, where growth is much needed and potential exists.