UTI Bank, HSBC hike home loan rates by 50bps

UTI Bank and HSBC have hiked their home loan rates by 50 basis points each, effective April 1, 2006. HSBC has hiked its mortgage lender rate (MLR), the benchmark rate for home loans, by 50 basis points to 9 per cent.

A senior UTI Bank official said, "with this hike, home loans taken on a floating rate basis will become costlier by 50 basis points (from 7.5 per cent charged earlier to 8 per cent). Corporate loans will also get dearer with this PLR hike."

UTI Bank has raised its corporate prime lending rate (PLR) by 100 basis points from 12 per cent to 13 per cent.

Housing loans comprise a major chunk of the retail loans growth. For HSBC, mortgage loans account for almost 70 per cent of the retail loans portfolio. The growth in housing loans in 2005 was 72 per cent.

UTI Bank's retail loans portfolio increased by 40 per cent to Rs 5,778 crore at the end of December 2005 from Rs 3,917 crore a year earlier. The private sector bank's retail advances accounted for 30 per cent of total advances at the end of December 2005.

Housing Development Finance Corporation increased its lending rate by 50 basis points in February and has geared up for another 50 basis points hike from next month.

ICICI Bank recently raised its home loan PLR by 50 basis points to 9.25 per cent and has also stopped offering interest rate discounts on home loans.

It had also increased interest rate on loans for purchase of automobiles by 100 basis points.

ICICI Bank has raised its PLR for lending to companies by 175 basis points in three stages since January 2006 to 12.75 per cent.