HDFC extends special home loan

Housing Development Fin-ance Corporation (HDFC) has extended the last date of application for its special home loan scheme till January 31, Keki Mistry, its chief executive officer, said on Monday.

The extension comes as demand for home loans remains moribund despite the discounts and festival season sops given out by various lenders over the past few months.

In fact, this is the third time HDFC has extended the application deadline for Fixed First, its fixed-cum-floating product. The product, launched in September, had an initial deadline of October 31. Under the scheme, for loans up to Rs30 lakh, HDFC has fixed the interest rate at 10.75% for three years and at 11.25% for five; for loans between Rs30 lakh and Rs75 lakh, the rate is 11.25% for three years and 11.5% for five; and for loans above Rs75 lakh, the rate is 11.75%.

Following the latest extension, disbursement of these loans would be completed by the end of February, a source said.
HDFC isn’t alone in extending the discount scheme.

State Bank of India, the nation’s largest bank, has already extended the 25 bps discount it was offering on home loans till March 31, from the earlier deadline of December 31.

Analysts believe the discounts and teaser schemes are helping lenders garner some respectability in home loan disbursements in the current scenario.

“Companies would not look at dismantling such products right away. It gives them some hope even in the high interest rate regime and also gives customers a kind of discount,” said Suresh Ganpathy, head of financial research team, Macquarie Securities.

Renu Sud Karnad, managing director, HDFC, conceded as much. “We don’t think this is the right time to do away with this product. It has generated good demand from the customers and our further moves will depend on what the Reserve Bank of India does with its monetary policy,” she said.

The home loan portfolios of various lenders have taken a severe beating in the current financial year under the twin impact of high real estate prices and high loan rates. SBI’s home loan portfolio saw a shortfall of Rs1,000 crore in the first half of the fiscal despite disbursals close to Rs7,000 crore, a senior official of the bank had told DNA Money earlier last month.