HDFC expects rates to firm up by 25-50 bps Assetventures

The country’s largest mortgage company Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) expects interest rates to go up by 25 to 50 basis
points in the first quarter of the next fiscal. This was indicated by HDFC joint managing director Renu Karnad, who also told reporters that HDFC expects loan disbursements to grow by 22 to 25% during the current fiscal.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function marking the launch of the Real Estate Sensitive Index (Ressex), Ms Karnad said there was also concern over the rise in real estate prices which have gone up sharply in the wake of the recovery in capital markets.

In her speech, Ms Karnad said: “Even in today’s ‘affordable housing’ mantra days, the common man has to shell out more than an arm and a leg to buy his home. “In India, housing, if priced correctly, has an enormous demand. Given the acute housing shortage, it is unlikely that there will be any saturation in the market for a long time to come.” According to Ms Karnad, the real estate index, which has been developed by a private consultancy firm Liases Foras, will help consumers and lenders in taking a view of the housing market.

“In the last year alone, which was one of the toughest periods in economic history, the real estate industry in India managed to grow at over 16% YoY. As a contributor to GDP growth, current estimates place the real estate sector at 8.86% of GDP. At the same time, over Rs 230 billion is being proposed to be raised across 8-10 real estate IPOs within the next 6-12 months. The post-crisis events have shown us the importance of transparency, compliance and integrity in the business world, she said.

“The housing industry in particular, which addresses the needs of millions of consumers, requires a greater degree of sophistication in its reporting of accessible and value-adding information,” she said.