The share of housing loans in the total non-food credit hit its highest in almost eight years in June 2016, an analysis of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows.

Home loans accounted for R7.73 lakh crore or 11.8% of loans outstanding of R65.53 lakh crore at the end of June, the highest since July 2008.

Banks are disbursing more home loans in the absence of demand from the corporate sector. In June, non-food credit grew at just 7.94% (y-o-y), while housing loans grew at 18.38% (y-o-y). Similarly, while three of the top five public sector banks (PSBs) saw their total loan books shrink y-o-y in the quarter ended June, all five of them reported double-digit growth in their home loan books.

Banks have launched several initiatives in recent weeks, primarily in response to the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations and the start of the festive season early next month and are hoping customer response will be good.

The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), for instance, has launched special schemes for defence and other government employees with installment tenure extending up to 75 years of age of the borrower.

“Under the new schemes, employees of central/state governments, defence forces, public sector banks, public sector enterprises of the central government and other individuals with pensionable service will be offered home loans tailored to their specific needs,” SBI had earlier this month said in a statement. SBI claims to having a 25.55% market share in home loans as of June.

Yes Bank, on the other hand, has recently launched a new scheme offering home loans of as little as R1 lakh. According to Yes Bank, the loan has no individual income norms and can be extended to those that have a family income of R9,000 or more.

While experts believe that too much of innovation in housing loans isn’t very healthy, the Real Estate Act, 2016, has brought greater transparency and discipline to the sector.

According to them, the rising dominance of housing loans is also likely to get a boost with government programmes like Housing for All by 2022, Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation.