India’s housing finance market is estimated to be over USD 100 billion and steadily growing.
Very small portion of this however is targeted at low income households. espite the network of banks and a focus on housing, low-income groups in India continue to lack access to home finance. This has paved the way for new entrants in a niche segment within the housing finance market, the affordable housing sector that specialises in lending to this class of borrowers. The Affordable Housing Finance sector targets borrowers who find it difficult to avail housing loans from mainstream Housing Finance Companies that find it difficult to underwrite this class of borrowers and ticket sizes due to unavailability of documented income proof in both the salaried class as well as the self-employed.
The track record of these housing finance companies both in terms of growth as well as portfolio performance continues to be promising with most players raising significant equity in recent times.