The country’s largest lender SBI has increased its home loan rates that arelinked to repo rate by up to 30 basis points amid market indications ofincreased credit risk for borrowers and realty firms in the wake of coronaviruspandemic. According to a senior official, the bank has also hiked interestrates on personal loans against property by 30 basis points. With market leaderSBI making the move, other lenders are also likely to follow suit.

On Thursday, SBI slashed benchmark lending rate by 15 basis points.Subsequently, rates on home loans linked to Marginal Cost of Funds-basedLending Rate (MCLR) have also come down. Most of the home loans are given onthe basis of repo rate or MCLR.

While SBI has kept the external benchmark-linked lending rate constant at 7.05per cent, the increase in home loan rates has been done by raising margins byup to 30 basis points across various home loan products. The new rates cameinto effect from May 1, as per information available on its website.