The Growth and Performance of Affordable Housing Finance Lenders in India

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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Karmali, Nadeem M.
Other Authors: Ruiz, Guillermo J. Rodriguez
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02892nmm a2200385 u 4500
001 EB002178326
003 EBX01000000000000001315860
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 231006 ||| eng
100 1 |a Karmali, Nadeem M. 
245 0 0 |a The Growth and Performance of Affordable Housing Finance Lenders in India  |h Elektronische Ressource  |c Nadeem M. Karmali 
260 |a Washington, D.C  |b The World Bank  |c 2022 
300 |a 59 pages 
653 |a Macroeconomics and Economic Growth 
653 |a Real Estate 
653 |a Affordable Housing Finance Companies 
653 |a Communities and Human Settlements 
653 |a Affordable Housing 
653 |a Lending 
653 |a Housing Finance 
653 |a Mortgages 
653 |a Urban Housing and Land Settlements 
653 |a Housing Markets 
653 |a Real Estate Development 
653 |a Economic Adjustment and Lending 
653 |a Finance and Financial Sector Development 
653 |a Housing and Human Habitats 
700 1 |a Ruiz, Guillermo J. Rodriguez 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b WOBA  |a World Bank E-Library Archive 
028 5 0 |a 10.1596/1813-9450-10038 
856 4 0 |u http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/1813-9450-10038  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a 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 market 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