By Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India.
“A repo rate hike of 50 bps was imminent given the current inflationary trajectory and geopolitical concerns. Although the government has taken various measures to control domestic inflation such as food export restriction and cut in excise duty, prolonged war and spike in global crude oil price is still worrisome.
From a real estate perspective, home loans are set to get costlier. Banks have already raised the interest rate on home loan by 30-40bps since the earlier repo rate hike by the RBI in May and now with the repo rate cumulatively higher by 90 basis point there will be further increase in interest rate for homebuyers. Rising interest rate along with elevated property construction cost and product price pressures could adversely impact on the real estate buyer’s sentiment. We hope that economic recovery and household income growth will serve as a cushion for sustaining consumer demand in the face of this rate hike. Further, monetary policy tightening by central banks globally and any resolution on the prolonged Russia – Ukraine war will bring price stability.”
