The Pulse 2026: SGA PR explores tech’s impact on housing finance

As housing finance expands beyond metropolitan centres and technology transforms the way lenders originate and underwrite credit, the sixth editor of SGA PR’s The Pulse 2026 examines the forces reshaping India’s evolving housing finance landscape — from digital distribution and changing consumer behaviour to expanding credit access beyond traditional lending centres.

Designed to bring together research, industry analysis and a communications lens, The Pulse goes beyond reporting what happened to examine the shifts that could shape what happens next — and what they mean for businesses, brands and consumers. Each edition turns that lens on a different sector.

SGA PR’s latest report, “Housing Finance in India – The Silent Giant of Retail Credit,” is a secondary research report drawing on industry reports, market data, company disclosures and publicly available sources. It examines how digital discovery, technology-led distribution, changing consumer expectations and the rise of smaller cities are reshaping the home-loan journey.

Data cited in the report indicates that 92% of housing-finance applications were processed digitally by 2024, compared with around 60% in 2020. Separately, 42% of housing finance firms report that a majority of borrower enquiries now originate digitally. Yet the journey remains only partially digitised, with physical verification, field support and human intervention continuing to play an important role.

The shift is also geographical. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities account for around 64% of home-loan volumes, with volumes growing 81% YoY in 2025, pointing to a changing geography of India’s housing consumer.

Rahul Jain, CEO, SGA PR, said, “Most industry reports tell you what happened. We wanted The Pulse to ask what is changing underneath, and why it matters. As a communications firm, we see how industries evolve and how those shifts shape the conversations around them. The Pulse brings that lens into research, identifying the shifts worth paying attention to. Housing finance is our latest lens — a category where the market, the borrower and the way financial products are accessed are all changing.”

The report also spotlights the emergence of technology-led distribution platforms, using Urban Money as a case study to examine how mortgage distribution is moving from fragmented, relationship-led sourcing towards technology-enabled origination infrastructure, combining digital discovery with assisted distribution and a broad lender network.

Amit Prakash Singh, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer, Urban Money, said, “Housing finance is going through a meaningful transition as technology changes how borrowers discover and access credit. But a home loan remains a high-involvement financial decision, particularly for first-time buyers and consumers outside the metros. The opportunity is therefore not simply to digitise the transaction, but to create a more transparent and guided experience that combines technology with the right human support.”

For SGA PR, The Pulse 2026 reflects its focus on identifying structural shifts across business, financial services and consumer ecosystems and translating them into narratives relevant to industry, investors and the wider business community.