Housing loans in Gujarat doubled to 88%

Growth in housing loans in Gujarat almost doubled to 88% in the fiscal 2017-18 compared to 42.4% in 2016-17, according to the report of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) for the January-March quarter of fiscal 2017-18. Bankers disbursed Rs 25,837 crore during fiscal. Realtors attribute the acceleration to the demand from the affordable sector. With the central government relaxing carpet area norms for affordable housing and banking regulator also increasing the loan amount for the sector, realtors say the growth will continue in current fiscal as well. Realtors are optimistic that the growth momentum will continue in subsequent quarters of the current fiscals as well following the recent twin booster dose by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). MoHUA last week raised the carpet area for MIG-1 scheme from 120 sqmt to 160 sqmt, and for MIG-2 scheme from 150 sqmt to 200 sqmt under the Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme (CL-SS). In the previous week, the RBI had raised the loan limits under Priority Sector Lending (PSL) from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh in non-metro cities and from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 35 lakh in metro cities.