December 30, 2009

Banks are now trying to overcome the ongoing slowdown in credit offtake by targeting a higher percentage of home loans through competitive rates.Though the banking industry has seen credit off-take of around 10%, which may not rise drastically in the next three months, the banks are confident that they can post healthy growth of 20-30% growth in home loan segments by offering competitive rates.

Special rate of around 8% that was kick started by the State Bank of India is now being offered by all banks and institutions which are vying to grow in their home loan business.Private sector banks and mortgage lenders, ICICI Bank and HDFC, have also joined the bandwagon by offering special home loan rates in the recent past. State-owned lender Bank of India (BoI) has also decided to cut its interest rates on home loans since January 1, 2010.