Realty News Roundup: Gadkari Urges Developers To Focus On Affordable Homes; ICICI Slashes Interest Rates

Realty News Roundup is PropGuide's selection of top stories from the real estate sector

Top News

After State Bank of India (SBI) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) cut their home loan interest rates, ICICI Bank has now reduced the interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) and 30 bps for men and women borrowers, respectively. With this, women borrowers can now get home loan at an interest rate of 9.60 per cent and men borrowers can get it at 9.65 per cent, for loans up to Rs 5 crore. In another development, Indiabulls Housing Finance also lowered its lending rate from 9.85 per cent to 9.60 per cent. But, there are reports, which state that banks are not transmitting the entire policy rate cut to borrowers.

Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has urged real estate developers to focus more on affordable homes. Addressing a conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, Gadkari also asked builders to use technology to lower construction costs. Read more.

Ahead of the festive season, Raheja Developers has become the first developer to deliver flats in one of the most sought-after real estate destinations, the Dwarka Expressway. The developer has two projects in the area namely, Vedaanta and Atharva. The projects at Dwarka Expressway received court clearance in May.

A report on Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor says the project will help create five new cities. The study, conducted by a real estate consultancy firm said that the corridor would also benefit Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore and Aurangabad through its first phase. Read more.

Off the front page

Reports suggest that West Bengal government might receive investments from US-based companies to develop smart cities in the state. The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham India) officials will be meeting representatives of different urban local bodes in Kolkata this month. Read here.

Opinion

When is the best time to invest in a project? This article will give you some insight. Read here.