Housing finance watchdog National Housing Bank (NHB) has said demand for home loans will slow down in the next few months due to high property prices.
"Housing loans can be a bit sluggish because buyers feel there is no way of getting properties at a reasonable price, [and] they are postponing their purchases," NHB Chairman and Managing Director RV Verma said.
Since April, home loan growth has been 16-17%, which is 1 percentage point lower than the previous fiscal. He further said he sees credit offtake lower at over 15% for the full fiscal.
However, Verma maintained that it was booming property prices, rather than the repeated rate hikes by the Reserve Bank, that was affecting demand.
"I think the main reason for the current sluggishness is the high property prices. If the property prices come down, there could be an increase in demand even if the interest rates go up a little," he said.
The RBI has increased key short-term rates by a record 12 times over the last 18 months, with an eye to tame uncomfortably high inflation, which stood at 9.78% for August.
Home loan buyers, especially those who are on floating interest rates, are one of the worst-affected categories of buyers affected by the higher interest rates, as the cost of servicing loans obtained at lower rates has gone up.
Verma said the NHB has asked housing finance companies to monitor loans, especially those at floating rates, closely to look for any signs of stress building up.
