Advisory Center for Affordable Settlements & Housing

acash

Advisory Center for Affordable Settlements and Housing
ACASH

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Document TypeGeneral
Publish Date11/08/2022
Author
Published ByWorld Bank Groups
Edited BySaba Bilquis
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THE GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE LENDERS IN INDIA

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Document Type:General
Publish Date:2022
Primary Author:Nadeem M. Karmali and Guillermo J. Rodriguez Ruiz
Edited By:Saba Bilquis
Published By:World Bank Groups

Anecdotal studies have highlighted the recent rapid growth of so-called affordable housing finance companies across India. These new lenders are reported to be using a high-touch approach common to microfinance to provide mortgages to households that are newer to credit, have irregular incomes, and live in smaller urban centers. As there is no specific license type for these lenders, this paper uses detailed credit bureau data to identify which lenders could be tagged as affordable housing finance companies. Using several classification techniques, the paper then assesses their growth and performance. The results vindicate the anecdotal studies and show that this nascent sector grew at an average annual compound growth rate of 27–32 percent between 2016 and 2020. Affordable housing finance companies have been able to lend to more marginalized borrowers who are newer to credit and do so in a markedly different way than other lenders. Delinquencies at affordable housing finance companies are higher only for smaller loans, while risk-adjusted lending spreads are higher for all affordable housing finance company loan sizes. This suggests that, thus far, the approach is profitable and sustainable. Looking forward, this lending model could be useful for other countries to explore given the incipient success in India, although there are crucial capital markets and institutional features that are unique to India. The paper also discusses demand-side subsidies for mortgages in India and identifies opportunities to improve the targeting of the program.

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