Home loan borrowers may have to wait a while before they see interest rates soften unless the Reserve Bank of India relaxes some of the fiscal curbs it has imposed on banks as Rajiv Sabharwal, Senior General Manager at ICICI bank says.

ICICI Bank has stepped up its support to realty market in Mysore by launching a 48-hour home loan-processing scheme.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) diktat to banks to go slow on home loans coupled with rising interest rates has resulted in home loan portfolios of large banks showing signs of a slowdown.

CARE has retained the ‘CARE A- (FD) [Single A Minus]’ rating of the FD programme of Weizmann Homes Ltd. (WHL) for the outstanding amount of Rs.2.89 crore.

The National Housing Bank (NHB) is keeping a close watch on the possible defaults that could take place due to rise in equated monthly instalments (EMIs) on home loan borrowers.

Banks are inserting new clauses in home loan agreements to protect their books amid hardening interest rates and rising defaults. These loan conditions will make life a little more difficult for borrowers who are struggling to pay higher EMIs.

Second home loans may cost more as some large public sector banks are contemplating a higher interest rate but home loans below Rs 20 lakh are likely to get cheaper, providing relief to the lower and middle-classes.

HDFC has recorded a rise of 25 per cent in net profit at Rs 1570.38 crore for the year ended 2006-07, compared with Rs 1257.3 crore for last year.

Housing loan defaults were rising, this is because many borrowers, who buy houses as an investment, have started defaulting following the hikes in interest rates.

Union Bank of India has become the first bank to reduce the interest rate on home loans up to Rs 20 lakh by 50 basis points.

Public sector banks Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce have raised home loan rates by one percentage point and 0.75 percentage point respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India reaffirmed its decision to reduce the risk weight on housing loans upto Rs 20 lakh to 50 percent from the earlier 75 per cent.

According to the new guidelines that will be effective from March 2009, if you can bring in Rs 6 lakh for a property worth Rs 24 lakhs and seek only Rs 18 lakh as loan you will get a lower interest rate as opposed to seeking Rs 20 lakh and bringing only Rs 4 lakh of your own money.

After several successive policy announcements that signalled higher rates, Reddy has held the rate line this time, which should soothe nervous borrowers.