“It’s undeniable that the rise in repo rate will affect housing affordability. Repeated rate hikes may temporarily delay the purchase decision, but does not reduce overall housing demand. At a time when the real estate sector is showing signs of recovery and a strong bounce back driven by end-users, the marginal increase in cost of purchase would eventually average out and be overtaken by consistent rise in capital values. We believe that luxury housing has a higher demand than other segments of the market, and the hike will have little impact on this segment” says Ankush Kaul – Chief Business Officer, Ambience Group.