HDFC Bank Home Loan

What the Merger Actually Changed

Before July 2023 an Indian borrower faced a real trade-off. A bank was usually cheaper but assessed income conservatively. A housing finance company understood property and irregular income far better, but funded itself in the market and priced accordingly.

HDFC Ltd was the largest and oldest of those specialists. Its merger into HDFC Bank collapsed that trade-off in one direction: the underwriting that was built for housing now sits inside an institution funded by deposits.

In practice that matters most to people whose income is real but does not fit a payslip — and that is a very large share of Indian property buyers.

If Your Income Needs Explaining

This is where the page earns its place. If you are salaried at a large employer with two years of payslips, almost any lender will take you and you should be comparing on the salary-account advantage instead. Read on only if one of these is true of you:

• You are self-employed and your returns understate what the business actually generates.
• Your income is seasonal or lumpy — contracting, consulting, commission.
• Several small streams add up to a comfortable income that no single document evidences.
• You have been declined already on documentation rather than on affordability.
• You are a professional — doctor, chartered accountant, architect — whose practice income is assessed differently from a salary.

None of that guarantees an approval. What it changes is who is best placed to look at it properly, and how likely you are to be turned down for the wrong reason.

HDFC Bank or SBI?

These are the two lenders most people end up choosing between, so it is worth putting plainly.

Both are banks, so neither carries the housing-finance-company trade-off described on the lender comparison page. The choice between them is about which one is set up to understand you.

Approved Projects Cut the Timeline in Half

Half of any home loan assessment is of the property. HDFC Bank inherited one of the widest approved-project lists in the country, and that is worth using deliberately rather than discovering by accident.

• Ask the builder which lenders have approved the project before shortlisting lenders at all. It is the fastest single step available to you.
• An approved project means the title, approvals and builder have already been checked. Your file skips most of that.
• Resale and older properties need a full legal and technical report wherever you go.
• Under-construction purchases disburse in stages against construction progress, not in one payment — budget for paying rent and part-EMI together.

What Actually Sets Your Cost

• Your credit score, which sets the spread over the repo. The most controllable lever you have.
• Your down payment. RBI caps lending against a property at broadly 90% up to ₹30 lakh, 80% from ₹30 lakh to ₹75 lakh, and 75% above that — and a larger deposit often improves the spread as well.
• Tenure. Thirty years makes the EMI comfortable and the interest very large. Compare both on the EMI calculator.
• Processing, legal and technical charges, which sit outside the rate.
• Bundled insurance — check whether it is optional and what it adds before it is folded into the sanction.

Questions This Page Gets Asked

Is HDFC Ltd the same as HDFC Bank now?

Yes. HDFC Ltd, the housing finance company, merged into HDFC Bank with effect from 1 July 2023. Home loans that were HDFC Ltd’s business are now the bank’s, and the specialist underwriting came with them.

Is HDFC Bank good for self-employed home loans?

It is one of the strongest options in India for it, precisely because of that inherited underwriting. Self-employed income that is genuine but awkward to evidence is a judgement call, and this is a lender with a long history of making it.

Is HDFC Bank cheaper than SBI?

Not reliably, and it is the wrong comparison. Both are repo-linked, so they move together, and your spread is set on your own profile. Choose on who is better placed to assess you: SBI if your salary account is there or the property is in a smaller town, HDFC Bank if your income needs explaining or you want speed.

What if my project is not on their approved list?

It can still be financed, but expect a full legal and technical review and a longer timeline. Ask the builder which lenders have already approved the project before you choose one — it reverses the usual order and saves weeks.

Does HDFC Bank do plot and construction loans?

Those are separate products from a flat purchase, with different terms and different disbursement. Confirm which product you are actually applying for rather than assuming a home loan covers land or self-construction.

Can I move my existing home loan to HDFC Bank?

Yes. Before you do, ask your current lender to reset your spread — a conversion fee is usually far cheaper than a transfer and often captures most of the saving. If it still makes sense afterwards, the working is on balance transfer.

Where do I check the current rate?

On HDFC Bank’s own page, linked below. We deliberately do not print home loan rates: they are repo-linked and reset, so any figure here would mislead within weeks.