A Homebuyer's Financial Woes

You have little choice but to slash your household budget for that dream home, or live in a rental

- Ashfaque Ismail

For the salaried class, owning a house is like a dream. To turn this dream into reality, homebuyers face several hurdles like tweaking income, expenditure and liabilities and slashing household budget. Most in Mumbai are forced to take up a rental space, far away from workplace, for a cheaper solution.

Buying a house is a costly affair. Arranging home finance is a big challenge, coupled with lengthy paperwork and high stamp duty.

Despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) substantially reducing repo rate in last three years, banks have failed to pass on the benefits to end-users, complains Sharad Mittal, Director and CEO, Motilal Oswal Real Estate. Currently, RBI’s repo rate stands at 5.15 per cent. It was 6.50 per cent in August 2018, 7.75 per cent in January 2015, and eight per cent in January 2014. However, banks have not slashed lending rates accordingly and this has not helped.

Adhil Shetty, CEO, Bankbazaar, feels typically, interest rates on home loans depend on a number of factors, including creditworthiness of the applicant. Home loan interest rates range from 7.95 per cent to 10 per cent and upwards, he explains.

Mittal argues that the concept of affordable housing needs to be redefined. “Affordable housing has been defined as houses having a value up to ₹45 lakh. This limit should go up since it is difficult to get a house in cities like Mumbai within this limit,” he says.