Owning a home of their own is the dream of all. A home is not just a piece of land to accommodate yourself and your family, but also seems to be an asset that can be used in bigger cash crunch situations. A home is a valuable asset that can be used for living, selling, or getting a loan; it doesn’t lose its intrinsic value and can be used by many generations. However, buying a home needs a lot of money, which was the main hindrance that prevented many people from realizing their dream of owning a home. Today, arranging finance for home purchase is not so difficult as home loans have become much more accessible than they were a decade ago.
Due to increase in income, availability of several financial institutions offering affordable housing finance options, decrease in interest rates, ease of registration, and online process, getting a home loan has become much faster and easier. Here are some changes that took place in the world of housing finance in the last couple of decades that made it more affordable and accessible for common people of the country:
The tenure for home loan repayment has been increased to up to 30 years from 15 years. Longer tenure means more affordable EMIs.
During the early 1990’s, the maximum loan amount provided by the banks was 5 Lakhs. This figure has gone up to 100 Crores now. The reasons include higher income levels, increase in property values, good performance of home loan portfolios of banks and better legal recourse for bank in case of defaults.
The rate of interest for Home Loans have halved since the 1990’s. Now, one can avail home loan at as low as 8.5% interest and the processing fees are also very affordable.
There is a huge range of approved projects available in India today – plots, under construction properties, ready to move flats, and so on, which gives home buyers a variety of options to choose from as per their need and budget.
Earlier, there were a few options of lenders that used to provide home loans including ICICI, HDFC Bank, Citibank, LIC Housing Finance, and select public sector banks. Now, not just every bank, but also HFCs (housing finance corporations) and NBFCs (non-banking finance companies) are offering home loans. More options mean higher competition and lesser price.
Earlier, the applicant had to visit the bank and go through a long process to avail a loan. However, today, the awareness about online lending platforms such as www.mymoneymantra.com has increased manifold among customers. Online processing has made it faster and more convenient for applicants to see, compare and avail loans online. You can now get a home loan through a bank branch, loan distributor or online. Many doors are open to you to make your dream come true.
In addition to these changes, the younger applicants are also considered creditworthy if they meet eligibility criteria, the loan size has also gone up due to increase in salary, and registration process for the purchase of property has been simplified by the government. All these factors have made housing finance more accessible to the masses.
Reshma Rawat is a passionate writer with a decade of experience in writing for a variety of domains (finance, technology, lifestyle, e-commerce, real estate, etc.). Currently, she is working as Assistant Manager - Content @MyMoneyMantra and writes blogs & webpages on financial products (loans, credit cards, insurance, government financial policies, mutual funds, etc.).
Director- MyMoneyMantra FinTech| A senior retail and commercial banking professional, adept at handling Business Development, Sales Planning & Growth, Product Strategy, Marketing Operations and Client advisory services phygitally.
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