Housing finance: Will the party last?

It's been a two-year bull run in HFC shares, stoked by govt initiatives

The stocks of housing finance companies (HFCs) have been a favourite with investors in the past two years. It is believed that a housing boom, actively encouraged by the government, in the lower ticket-size segment will largely be financed by these mortgage lending entities. Year-to-date, some listed HFCs have seen their share prices rise by 80 per cent or more. The price-to- book value ratios of some of these are at par or even more than some established private sector banks.

This is also perhaps not the end of the bull run. Mahesh Nandurkar, India strategist at foreign brokerage CLSA,  said