Published by Newsroom November 7th, 2009
in Home Loans and Newsbytes.
State Bank of India (SBI), India's No.1 home loan provider, has decided to extend the availability of 'My Home Campaign' till 31st March 2009. Three popular products are offered under the banner of 'My Home Campaign'.
For loans upto Rs 5 lacs with a maximum tenor of 10 years, SBI Hi-Five Home Loan, carries a fixed rate of 8% for 5 years.
For loans above Rs 5 lacs and upto Rs 50 lacs, SBI Easy Home Loan, carries fixed interest rate of 8% p.a. during 1st year and 8.5% p.a. (fixed) during 2nd and 3rd year of the loan. SBI MaxGain – Home Loan as Overdraft with possibility of saving interest – immensely popular among the salaried class, may also be availed under SBI Easy Home Loan.
Customers looking for high end properties can take SBI Advantage Home Loan which carries fixed interest rate of 8% p.a. during 1st year and 9% p.a. during 2nd and 3rd year.
Published by Newsroom November 5th, 2009
in City Scape, Home Loans and Newsbytes.
The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, will not extend its eight per cent home loan scheme, the cheapest in the country, beyond November 8. SBI had introduced its Happy Home loan scheme, that allowed the borrower to freeze the eight per cent interest rate for a year, in February this year. In August, the bank had introduced another home loan scheme under a 'My Home' campaign, in which it offered loans up to Rs 5 lakh and tenure for up to 10 years, at an eight per cent per annum fixed rate during the first five years, among other offers.
However, the My Home campaign will come to an end on November 8. "The bank has taken a decision that the eight per cent home loan scheme will not be extended beyond November 8. It is yet to take a decision on the new interest rates. It is likely to be more than eight per cent," said sources at SBI. Under the My Home Campaign, the bank was offering home loans in three segments, namely, SBI Hi-Five Home Loan, SBI Easy Home Loan and SBI Advantage Home Loan. Under the SBI Hi-Five Home Loan, it has been offering loans up to Rs 5 lakh and tenure for up to 10 years at an eight per cent per annum fixed rate during the first five years.
Published by Newsroom November 2nd, 2009
in Home Loans and Newsbytes.
If you are looking to finance the purchase of your dream house with a cheap bank loan, time is running out, with large public sector banks such as State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) planning to withdraw the special schemes that offer rates as low as 8% for the initial years.
With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sending out hawkish signals in its second-quarter review, these banks may have to raise their home loan rates by January to align them with the expected hike in key policy rates. The special schemes offered by public sector banks have resulted in the cost of home loans crashing to the lowest levels in five years.
"Seeing the hawkish tone in RBI's quarterly monetary policy review, the bank board thinks it may not be possible to continue with these schemes after the end of the current calendar year," said a senior official with PNB, the country's second-largest public sector lender, requesting anonymity.
Published by Newsroom October 30th, 2009
in Home Loans and Newsbytes.
The credit policy announced by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Subba Rao may have hints of a tighter credit regime, but it may not have an impact on the interest rate structure for home loans, say experts. Experts say that their opinion is based on two facts. First, the demand for homes and home loans, in turn has gone up in the wake of the soft rate regime put in place by the finance minister early this year as part of his anti-recession measures. Second, the Centre has already expressed concerns about the bankers' unwillingness to pass on the benefits of the revival package announced by the finance minister.
Shobhit Agarwal, joint managing director for capital markets at real estate research and advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, tells TOI that the banks will now be a little more cautious while lending to real estate players, however, interest rates are at their lowest in recent times, and even a marginal hike due to this tightening in provisioning, will not affect the overall sector seriously.
Published by Newsroom October 23rd, 2009
in Home Loans and Newsbytes.
A panel from Reserve Bank of India has proposed a transparent pricing structure for floating rate loans. As per the proposal the benchmark rates would get automatically revised with the reduction in cost of funds. The panel has suggested the banks to discontinue using bank's prime lending rate in pricing floating rate loans and arrive at a base rate that reflects the cost of one year deposits. It has also proposed a cap on the extent of loans granted below the benchmark lending rate.
RBI governor D Subbarao said that though RBI slashed its repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks, by 425 basis points the banks reduced their PLRs by 200 basis points only. Most of the benefit was passed only to the new borrowers. MV Nair,
Chairman of Indian Banks' Association said that if the proposal is accepted, it would bring more transparency in the system and the prevalent practice of lenders arbitrarily quoting low rates for new borrowers will stop. "The new system of base rate will help banks to price their loans more efficiently" said AC Mahajan, Chairman of Canara Bank.
