Realty Industry Feels Rate Cut as Benefit for All

On Tuesday, the interest rate-sensitive real estate sector responded positively to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent decision to reduce key lending rates by 50 basis points. Stakeholders believe this pivotal move will enhance sentiments for both builders and home loan borrowers alike. Pradeep Jain, chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), remarked, "For the real estate in particular, this is indeed a welcome step by RBI. While the sector was already reeling under the pressures of high interest rates, this will allow banks to lower down the interest rates significantly. Both buyers and developers shall get benefitted from this." Currently, home loan customers are facing lofty interest rates hovering between 11.50% and 13.0% on floating rates. Those who had opted for dual-rate schemes and have now exhausted their fixed tenure rates find themselves in the same position. Other notable industry players, including Unitech and real estate consultative firm Cushman & Wakefield, also welcomed the RBI's recent action, expressing that it would instill a sense of business confidence. Ajay Chandra, managing director of Unitech, stated, "This development will have a positive impact across the economy and particularly in the real-estate industry. Not only will the cost of borrowing rationalize, this reduction will also provide an impetus to growth and enhance business-confidence." Furthermore, Cushman & Wakefield India projected that banks would likely pass on the benefits of reduced interest rates to consumers, thereby positively influencing market sentiments, especially in the domain of residential sales. Anurag Mathur, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, predicted, "We expect to witness some pickup in the volume of sales transactions. For the whole of last year, end buyers had to defer their purchase decisions as they were facing the double-edged sword of rising interest rates and stubborn price levels." In response to the RBI's announcement, the BSE Realty index experienced a boost, increasing by 32.50 points to reach 1,813.97 points around 2:50 p.m. Stocks of real estate companies also reflected this surge, with DLF's shares climbing by 3.75 points or 1.88% to hit 203.25 points.