Home loan interest rates to come down

Mumbai, India, January 14, 2008 - Leading bankers are suggesting that interest rates on home loans are likely to come down this year. This should be welcome news indeed to millions of borrowers who have seen interest rates go up significantly in the last two years.

First Deepak Parekh of HDFC said last week that he expected interest rates to soften by 25-50 basis points in the first quarter.  Now KV Kamath of ICICI Bank has said that he expects to see home loan rates cut in the first quarter of the fiscal year starting April.

ICICI Bank is also reportedly considering risk-based pricing where more creditworthy consumers would get lower interest rates. However this would require proper functioning of credit bureaus to assess the risk.