Home-loan rate tracker, October 2026: which lenders have passed on the RBI's hike to 5.50%

Rules and rates as of 12 October 2026.

The trigger

On 7 October 2026 the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee raised the policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50%, and changed its stance to "calibrated tightening" (RBI press release 2026-2027/1264). Its next meeting is on 2 to 4 December 2026.

Most floating-rate bank home loans taken since October 2019 are priced off an external benchmark, usually the repo rate. So the question for borrowers is simple: which lenders have already passed the hike into their published rates, and which have not yet?

This is the first edition of our tracker. We took each figure below only from the lender's own rate page, as published when we checked it on 12 October 2026. We did not use rate aggregators or news reports for any number.

Where five lenders stand

Lender	Benchmark, as published	Lowest published home-loan rate	Date shown on the page	Hike reflected?
Punjab National Bank	RLLR 8.35% (was 8.10%)	7.45% (CIBIL 800+, loan above ₹30 lakh, LTV up to 80%)	RLLR revised w.e.f. 08.10.2026; festive rates 01.10.2026 to 31.12.2026	Yes
ICICI Bank	Repo rate 5.50%, effective 08 October 2026	8.75% (special and standard tables); 7.55% for pre-approved digital loans	Rates valid till 31 October 2026	Yes
HDFC Bank	Policy repo rate; "Current applicable Repo Rate = 5.50%"	8.00% (repo + 2.50%), range up to 13.45%	No effective date shown	Uses 5.50%
Canara Bank	RLLR 8.00%	7.15% (women, loans above ₹1 crore, top credit grade); 7.30% for other borrowers up to ₹50 lakh	RLLR w.e.f. 12.03.2026	Not yet
State Bank of India	EBLR page did not load	7.25% p.a. onwards	w.e.f. 01.04.2026	Not shown yet

Read the table with care. The "lowest" rate is the best case on each page: it depends on credit score, loan size, loan-to-value and, at Canara, the borrower's gender. Two lenders' lowest rates are not a like-for-like comparison. Your sanctioned rate will usually be higher.

What each page tells us

PNB was the clearest. Its lending-rate page shows the repo-linked lending rate moving from 8.10% (w.e.f. 01.10.2026) to 8.35% from 8 October, the full 25 basis points. Its housing-loan rates are written as RLLR plus or minus a spread, so the published "presently" rates already include the hike.

ICICI Bank states the repo rate as 5.50% effective 8 October 2026 and says its special and standard home-loan rates are linked to it. Its tables run from 8.75% upwards, valid till 31 October 2026.

HDFC Bank prices adjustable-rate loans at the policy repo rate plus 2.50% to 7.95%, and its rate page already uses 5.50%. The page shows no effective date. Its title advertises a starting rate of 7.20%, which does not match the 8% in the body, so ask the bank which figure applies to you.

Canara Bank's retail rate page still shows an RLLR of 8.00% w.e.f. 12.03.2026. A separate RLLR notice on its site gives the same 8.00% with the date 12.07.2026. Either way, no post-hike revision had been published when we checked.

SBI's current home-loan rate card says 7.25% onwards, w.e.f. 01.04.2026, which is before the hike. Its EBLR page would not load for us, so we cannot confirm whether the benchmark itself has moved.

What the gap costs: a worked example

Take a new loan of ₹50 lakh for 20 years (240 monthly instalments), at the lowest (7.15%) and highest (8.75%) starting rates in the table.

EMI = P × r × (1 + r)ⁿ ÷ [(1 + r)ⁿ − 1], where P is the loan, r the annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100, and n the number of months.

• At 7.15%: r = 0.0059583; EMI = ₹39,216. Total interest over 20 years = ₹39,216.41 × 240 − ₹50,00,000 = about ₹44,11,939.
• At 8.75%: r = 0.0072917; EMI = ₹44,186. Total interest = about ₹56,04,529.

The difference is about ₹4,969 a month, or roughly ₹11.93 lakh in interest over the full term, if the rate never changed. And if Canara passes on the full 25 basis points, its 7.15% would become 7.40%, an EMI of about ₹39,974 on the same loan.

What to keep in mind

• A published rate for new loans is not your rate. An existing repo-linked loan moves on its own reset date, which the RBI's external-benchmark rules require at least once every three months.
• The spread you agree over the benchmark is what stays with you. Ask for it in writing, alongside the reset date.
• Festive offers have end dates (31 October at ICICI, 31 December at PNB). A sanction letter issued after that date may carry a different rate.

Next update

We will refresh this table as lenders publish revisions, and again after the December MPC meeting. Lenders we could not read this time, including Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and LIC Housing Finance, will be added once their own rate pages load.