Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has given a go-ahead to retail home loans amounting to over ₹two trillion in the current fiscal, which is the highest in one year, reported Financial Express. The mortgage lender said its thrust on digital initiatives and an inherent demand for housing have helped it achieve the target.
The demand for loans has been from across the country, the lender said. “In over four and half decades, I have not seen a better time for the housing sector than now due to lower interest rates, stable property prices, government’s thrust on affordable housing, improved affordability, favourable demographics, increasing urbanisation and rising aspirations,” Renu Sud Karnad, MD, HDFC, was quoted as saying, wrote Financial Express.
She said the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has propelled the move towards the ‘Housing for All’ goal. As of December 31, cumulative loans disbursed under CLSS stood at ₹45,914 crore and the cumulative subsidy amount stood at ₹6,264 crore.
The lender has been focussing on digital platform for loans. For retail deposits, it has rolled out ‘HDFC Customer Connect’ for all customer requests and launched virtual offices for customer services. With this, more than 89 percent of retail loans are now sourced online up from less than 20 percent before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The demand for housing continues to be from first-time homeowners as well as from those moving to larger homes, she said. The maximum traction is still in the price range of ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore.
In the last three quarters of the current financial year, 30 percent of home loans approved in volume terms and 13 percent in value terms have been to customers from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and the Low Income Group (LIG).
The mortgage lender is increasing its footprint in funding affordable, smart and green housing. For this, it has signed an MoU with the Indian Green Building Council to promote and encourage developers to opt for green buildings in India.