Realtors hail RBI policy

New Delhi: The real estate industry on Friday welcomed the RBI's decision to keep key policy rates unchanged, saying the interest rates on home loans will remain at historical low level and housing sales may rise by up to 40 per cent during this festival quarter.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to keep benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent. This is the eighth time in a row that the RBI has maintained status quo.

"RBI's move of keeping the repo rate at 4 per cent and reverse repo rate at 3.55 per cent is a welcome move. The acknowledgment of taking an accommodative stance while having indicators of economic recovery is a message in the right direction," CREDAI President Harsh Vardhan Patodia said.

"While inflation has been better than expected with the festive season coming in and RBI keeping rates at status quo we look forward to more support from bankers on home loans to push the festive sales cheer," he said.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE, said: "The RBI's decision to maintain the repo and reverse repo rates at 4 per cent and 3.35 per cent respectively has come at an opportune time, with the country gearing up for the festive season which often sees a spurt in residential sales. We expect residential sales to further increase in the coming months."

"The RBI's focus on reviving and sustaining growth through its accommodative stance while keeping an eye on inflation levels is expected to accelerate the economic recovery, as is evident from the fact that the central bank expects the country to grow at 9.5 per cent in FY 2021-22. Therefore, we are optimistic that this unprecedented growth would augur well for India's real estate market as well," he added.

Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said: "In short for homebuyers, the low home loan interest rates regime will continue in the market and help foster housing demand during the ongoing festive season. Notably, this is a period when housing sales usually surge on the back of attractive offers by developers and lending banks."The ongoing festive quarter will see at least a 35-40 per cent yearly rise in overall housing sales across the top 7 cities as against the same period in 2020, he said. In Q4 2020, the top seven cities saw total housing sales of nearly 50,900 units.