MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has turned down banks' demand for restructuring stressed real estate loans without providing for potential losses, a move that could mount pressure on builders to lower prices as banks push to recover loans.
The central bankBSE 1.01 % believes that if banks are permitted to restructure the loans without providing for losses, they will lose the urge to insist on prompt payments from builders, who in turn would continue to hold onto prices even if sales are slack, two bankers familiar with the discussions said.
Builders will get the benefit of paying the same loan over a longer period without feeling the pinch to repay, RBI Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty is supposed to have told bankers in a recent meeting, said the two bankers who did not want to be identified.
Banks will be at ease once the loan is prevented from becoming a sub-standard asset, Chakrabarty said.
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But in most parts of the country, prices have soared through the roof, bringing down home sales. If banks pressure developers, it could lead to a fall in prices.
Home prices at an all-India level rose 6.7 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal, data from the Reserve Bank of India shows. Transaction volumes rose 9.3 per cent.
While property prices have been rising across the board, transaction volumes have been falling in cities such as New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.
Bankers had sought a special dispensation due to rising bad loans that are eroding their profitability.
Total real estate bad loans, net of provisions of all commercial banks, rose 55 per cent to Rs 64,900 crore on March 31, 2012, from Rs 41,700 crore on March 31, 2011. State-run banks' share in this was Rs 59,100 crore, up 64 per cent from Rs 36,000 crore.
Currently, banks have to classify restructured loan of a real estate company as bad loan the moment it is reworked.
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Attribution -
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/realty-trends/buying-a-home-to-get-cheaper-as-rbi-says-no-to-restructuring-of-real-estate-loans/articleshow/17406901.cms
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Copyrights: Economic Times (TOI - Bennett Coleman)
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It will be fun to see how builders (and their politician masters) will now force the Government owned banks to backdoor restructure the RE loans dished out to builders
Correct me if I am wrong but -
SBI, HDFC, LIC and ICICI are the top mortgage lenders in the country.
Ironically the same bankers (and their politician masters ) are making it worse to get home loans by charging ridiculous pay off fees, unnecessarily high interest rates, horrible customer service, unrealistic stamp duty and VAT.
