new delhi state bank of india deutsche postbank ing vysya bank and punjab sind bank are attempting to light up the festival season by lending more for home purchases than they did six months back thanks to availability of funds and rising trust in the borrower but individuals are still not buying as high home prices keep them away from their dreamsthe economy has improved and the liquidity situation is much better and interest rates have eased off considerably anoop pabby joint managing director at deutsche postbank home finance told sundayet it is only natural then that the home buyers expect the reduced risks to result in reduction in interest rates and relaxation of margin money normsthe housing finance company is now funding up to 80 of the property value to most salaried people and in a few cases up to 85 depending on the credit worthiness of the borrower this is more than the 70 it used to lend a few months back indian mortgage lenders who were funding as much as the full value of the property in some cases tightened lending standards after the collapse of lehman brothers last year this month because of the liquidity crisis and a rise in defaults due to job losses but the scene has improved since with the reserve bank of india cutting lending rates to record lows and pumping in unprecedented amount of money into the systemlenders such as ing vysya bank and punjab sind bank have reduced the margin money requirement to 1520 from 2530 towards the cost of the house on their home loans as they try to tap the potential home buyers this leads to a borrower paying investing lesser capital than before so on a home loan of rs 25 lakh a customer would need to pay only rs 375 lakh now against rs 625 lakh demanded earlier where the margin norm is relaxed to 15 from 25 state bank of india which has cut the margin requirement to 20 from 25 may reduce it a further 5festive season is a time when consumers traditionally contemplate property investments keeping in mind this we have relaxed the margin money requirements said sonalee panda product marketing head at ing vysya bank as part of its initiative to draw potential customers the bank is participating in various property melas and community events apart from running a special offer on home loan balance transfer product the interest rates are also in favour of buyers now as it may start rising again in a few months the rates have fallen to about 8 from as high as 13 in early 2008 interest rates are likely to harden over the next six months with the credit offtake improving and inflation moving into the positive territory said g s vedi the newlyappointed chairman managing director of punjab sind bank this is the best time for a potential buyer to go home shoppinggreen shoots need protectionbut the easy