Home and auto loans to get dearer

NEW DELHI — Housing and auto loans are set to become costlier with India’s central bank raising its key interest rate for the first time since January 2015, though industry stakeholders feel it will have limited impact on housing loans but in the automobile industry, the cost of funds for manufacturers would go up along with loans for buyers.

Joe Verghese, managing director, Colliers International India, feels the potential increase in interest rates would impact developers more than home buyers. “The potential increase in interest rates is going to impact the developers more than the end-users. Not only do their cost of funds increase, the rate increase can impact velocity of sales as fence-sitters will see this as another reason to postpone their home buying decision,” Verghese said.