Rate cut to boost housing demand in festive season

New Delhi: The RBI's decision to cut key policy rate by 25 basis points will boost consumer sentiment as well as housing sales during the ongoing festive season which is a crucial period for realty sector, property consultants said on Friday.

However, they said the RBI should ensure effective transmission of rate cuts, announced on Friday as well as earlier, to home loan borrowers. "Consumers are spending less on everything from FMCG to automobiles – and, of course, real estate.

Naturally, the sector eyes RBI's monetary policy for cuts in the key lending rates to support various measures taken by the government to boost consumption sentiment," Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said.

The move would go some way in improving consumer sentiment in the festive season, which is a crucial period for real estate sales, he added. "However, much depends on how efficiently banks transmit the benefits to their homebuying borrowers," Puri said.

Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO of Housing.com and PropTiger said, "The RBI's decision to further reduce repo rate gives the real estate sector a reason to cheer at a time when it expects sales to improve in the ongoing festive season."

"A reduction in interest rates means more cost-effective home loans for buyers when key property markets already offer them great ready-to-move-in options to pick from, on affordable rates," he added.

CBRE India Chairman and CEO Anshuman Magazine said, "The timing of the cut is crucial as it is expected to spur real estate demand and consumption in the festive season as it is an important period for investment/consumption across sectors."