Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd., is said to have approved retail home loans totalling more than Rs 2 lakh crore in the current fiscal year, its highest ever in a financial year. Last year the lender had processed home loans worth Rs 1.55 lakh crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 30% as demand for homes surged. Low interest rates, stable property prices and state wise stamp duty sops have all aided growth in the housing finance segment.

“In over four and half decades, I have not seen a better time for the housing sector than now due to lower interest rates, stable property prices, government’s thrust on affordable housing, improved affordability, favorable demographics, increasing urbanisation and rising aspirations,” said Renu Sud Karnad, Managing Director – HDFC Ltd. “The residential real estate segment will continue to see strong traction going forward as the demand for housing is not just pent up demand but it is a structural one.”

In a statement HDFC corporation said that it’s thrust on digital initiatives and inherent demand for housing helped achieve the Rs 2 lakh crore target. The mortgage lender set up a digital platform for loans and retail deposits, and initiated ‘HDFC Customer Connect’ for all customer requests and launched virtual offices for customer services.

Over 89% of its retail loans are sourced online up from less than 20% before Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the past one year we have seen strong pipeline of new launches surpassing pre-pandemic levels,” Karnad said. “We are seeing healthy demand across metros and non-metros and demand is prevalent in affordable as well as high-end markets. The sweet spot for housing is still in the price range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.”

The government’s thrust on housing is enabling more households to become homeowners. The credit linked subsidy scheme under the PMAY yojna has also aided more homes in urban and rural areas.

HDFC continues to have the largest number of home loan customers of over 2.7 lakhs who have availed benefits under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). As at December 31, 2021, cumulative loans disbursed by the Corporation under CLSS stood at ₹ 45,914 crore and the cumulative subsidy amount stood at ₹ 6,264 crore.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, 30% of home loans approved in volume terms and 13% in value terms have been to customers from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG).