The real estate industry welcomed RBI’s decision to keep the repo rates and reverse repo rates unchanged and also its accommodative stance in order to sustain the growth rate. The industry said that the move will help homebuyers.
The RBI, on Thursday, held its key interest rates steady for the 10th consecutive meeting to support the economic recovery during the ongoing pandemic. The MPC unanimously voted to maintain the status quo on the repo rate and decided to retain the accommodative policy stance by a majority of 5-1.
Industry experts said that the RBI monetary policy has guided the Indian economy through a difficult time, ensuring that the pandemic did not hurt growth prospects even while exercising control over issues such as inflation. Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Group, said, “The fact that the repo rates remain unchanged is good for home loan borrowers as the floating retail loan rates, which are directly linked to external benchmark repo rates, will continue at what are the lowest levels in the last two decades. A continuation of this low interest rate regime supports the overall environment of affordability for some more time and is very welcome. While the window of opportunity for homebuyers to avail low interest rates has been extended for some more time, it is unlikely to prevail for much longer – sooner or later, repo rates will rise.”
Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India, said, “The Housing market has been showing a healthy bounce back from the covid crisis and low interest rates will help in improving affordability and sustaining the growth momentum. The sustenance of housing market recovery will have a strong multiplier effect on overall economic growth.”
Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues, Chairman & Founder, The Bennet and Bernard Company, said, “The continued intervention by RBI and holding on to the rates has helped in demand generation in the real estate sector. This works well for all home loan borrowers as the environment of affordability will continue and will not harden anytime soon. The continuation of the low home-loan interest rate regime is bound to instill more confidence in the home buyers and support the ongoing market and economic recovery.”
In the absence of the specific demand-side interventions from the Budget 2022-23, prospective homebuyers can continue to benefit from lower home loan interest rates which are here to stay for now, said Ramesh Nair, CEO, India & Managing Director, Market Development, Asia at Colliers.
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