Kotak Mahindra Bank reduces home loan rates to multi-year low of 6.75%

Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday announced that it has reduced its interest rates on home loans by a further 15 basis points (bps) to 6.75%, one of the lowest in the segment. The new rates are applicable from November 1.

“Home Loan at 6.75%! Covid has made our home the centre of life. Lower prices, lower stamp duty, low interest rates could support home values going forward, like old times,” tweeted Uday Kotak, MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Kotak is offering these low rates to the best rated customers in the salaried and self-employed customer segments. These rates are also applicable on balance transfers.

In the recently closed quarter, the lender Kotak continued its conservative stance on lending and saw its advances degrow by 4% year on year to Rs 2.04 lakh crore at the end of September. Its mortgage book grew nearly 5% during the same period.

Most banks have reduced home loan rates to life-lows ranging from 6.7% to 9%. And it’s not only interest rates developers have significantly reduced residential property prices plus several cities have offered relaxation on stamp duty. Keki Mistry of HDFC termed it as the best time to buy a home.

“This is the best time for anyone to buy a house, interest rates are as low as they can get it is very unlikely that there will be further reduction in interest rates, reduction in stamp duty rates has also augured well and many developers are giving discounts on property prices, given all of that its the best time,” Mistry of HDFC said.

The Reserve Bank of India’s data recorded till the end of September showed that mortgage loans grew 8.5% over last year while vehicle loans rose 8.8%. Overall credit to the industrial sector degrew by 0.6% even at the time when overall credit to the system recorded multi-decade low growth levels of 5.8%.