Look at the offers available on the housing front. “Home loan processing fee waived”. “Home loan rate of interest offered at the base rate”. “Loan approved in just 3 working days”. “Avail pre-launch offer”. “Festival offer”. “Special offers for NRIs”.
Piling-up inventories with the builders, the liquidity infusion by RBI into the banking system has opened up new opportunities for home loan seekers. Most builders unable to sell their completed projects have cut down on prices, and banks as well as home finance institutions have slashed their lending rates.
Last week RBI infused capital to the tune of Rs.19,000 crore into the banking system which has eased the liquidity pressure of banks considerably, enabling them to lend freely. With increase in demand for owning homes, banks had been waiting for such measures.
Since August this year, the RBI has purchased bonds worth Rs.30,000 crore (apprx.), thereby providing cash to the banks by way of infusing liquidity. To further encourage the home loan borrowers ahead of the festival season, banks and HFIs have made the borrowing rates quite competitive, thereby creating a very enthusiastic ambience for taking loans.
To add to the offers, while most banks have decided to completely waive the documentation charges many others have reduced the charges by half, which has provided the required impetus for home loan seekers.
For women
Further, aimed at catering to the needs of a growing number of women seeking home loans, most banks and HFIs have begun to offer exclusive loans to this segment. The “Bhagyalakshmi” scheme encourages women to get home loans at lesser rate of interest.
The woman borrower either should be the sole owner of the property or the first owner in a jointly owned property. The interest rates are about 0.50 per cent cheaper compared to what is offered to their male counterparts. More such offers are available for women such as fixed rate for first two years, additional rebates and reduction in processing fee. If one of the co-borrowers is a woman and she is a tax assessee, certain income tax rebates too can be obtained.
With news of inflation again increasing, it is expected that the RBI might maintain status quo on the interest rates or may even marginally increase the rates to address the situation. This would mean the loans may turn costlier in the coming days or banks and HFIs may not continue to offer at the prevailing rates.
Given that the overall situation is not good yet, it would be the right opportunity to book your dream home by lapping up the offers from builders which could offset any rise in interest rates later.
