Taking a home loan for a Gurgaon flat in 2026: the LTV caps everyone gets wrong, and the deductions that quietly disappeared
Most articles tell you the RBI allows 90% funding up to ₹30 lakh. That slab does not exist. Here is what the RBI actually caps, what the new prepayment rules changed on 1 January 2026, and why the tax break you were counting on may no longer apply to you.
The single most repeated number in Indian home-loan articles is wrong.
Search for RBI loan-to-value limits and you will be told, over and over, that banks may fund 90% of a property up to ₹30 lakh, 80% between ₹30 lakh and ₹75 lakh, and 75% above that. Those slabs are real, but they are not LTV limits. They are the risk-weight buckets banks use for their own capital adequacy — a rule about the bank's balance sheet, not about your down payment.
The actual LTV ceilings sit in the RBI's Master Circular on Housing Finance, and the first slab breaks at ₹20 lakh, not ₹30 lakh. For a Gurgaon buyer the distinction rarely bites, because almost nothing here falls under either threshold. What does bite is the second rule underneath it, which decides whether your stamp duty can be borrowed or has to come out of your pocket.
What the RBI actually caps
Master Circular on Housing Finance, paragraph 3(a). These are ceilings — an individual lender may offer less.
| Loan amount | Maximum LTV | Minimum you fund |
|---|---|---|
| Up to ₹20 lakh | 90% | 10% |
| Above ₹20 lakh and up to ₹75 lakh | 80% | 20% |
| Above ₹75 lakh | 75% | 25% |
The widely quoted ₹30 lakh break point comes from risk-weight rules, not LTV rules. Nearly every Gurgaon flat sits in the third row.
Stamp duty cannot be rolled into the loan
Paragraph 3(b) of the same circular says stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges must not be included in the cost of the property when computing LTV. The exception in paragraph 3(c) applies only where the house costs ₹10 lakh or less — which in Gurgaon means it applies to nothing.
So the 25% down payment on a flat above ₹75 lakh is 25% of the price, and the stamp duty and registration sit entirely on top of it. Budget for both separately or you will be short at the registry.
Worked example: a ₹2 crore Gurgaon flat, male buyer, ready-to-move
That last number is the one that catches people. A buyer who has saved ₹50 lakh and assumed the bank covers the rest arrives at the registry ₹14.5 lakh short. The stamp-duty maths behind that figure is in our separate breakdown of what a Gurgaon flat actually costs — a female buyer pays 5% rather than 7%, which changes the total by ₹4 lakh.
If the flat is under construction, add 5% GST on the agreement value, and the cash requirement climbs further still.
Three rule changes worth knowing before you sign
Floating rates move with the repo, by mandate
Since October 2019 banks must link floating-rate retail loans to an external benchmark, and in practice that benchmark is the RBI repo rate. The repo rate stood at 5.25% as displayed by the RBI on 6 August 2026. Your spread over the benchmark is the part the lender negotiates — ask for it in writing, because it is what actually differs between two quotes.
Prepayment charges are gone on individual loans
The RBI (Pre-payment Charges on Loans) Directions, 2025, issued on 2 July 2025, apply to loans sanctioned or renewed on or after 1 January 2026. For non-business loans to individuals, no prepayment or foreclosure charge is permitted, on any amount, whether or not there is a co-obligant. If a sanction letter dated after that cut-off still carries a foreclosure clause, challenge it.
Subvention schemes were discouraged years ago
The National Housing Bank told housing finance companies in July 2019 to desist from loan products where the builder services the borrower's dues — the 10:90 and no-EMI-till-possession structures. The reason is simple: the loan is in your name. If the builder stops paying, your credit score takes the damage and the bank comes to you, not to him.
The tax deductions changed on 1 April 2026 — check which regime you are in
The Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026 and renumbered the sections everyone quotes. Interest on a housing loan moved from section 24(b) to section 22(1)(b), with the ₹2,00,000 self-occupied cap now in section 22(2)(a). Principal repayment moved from section 80C to section 123, still capped at ₹1,50,000.
The renumbering is cosmetic. The regime is not. Under the default regime in section 202, the interest deduction on a SELF-OCCUPIED property is disallowed outright, and the section 123 principal deduction is unavailable. Interest on a LET-OUT property remains deductible — but a resulting loss under house property cannot be set off against your salary or other income.
In plain terms: if you are on the default regime and buying a home to live in, the interest deduction you may have built into your affordability maths is not available to you. Model your EMI without it, or price the cost of opting out of the default regime.
Section 80EEA has closed
The additional ₹1.5 lakh interest deduction under section 80EEA was only ever available on loans sanctioned between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2022, on property with a stamp value up to ₹45 lakh. It has sunsetted, and the ₹45 lakh ceiling would have excluded almost all Gurgaon stock anyway. Any 2026 article offering it to you as a live benefit is recycling old copy.
Before you accept a sanction letter
The questions that change the number, rather than the ones the sales desk expects.
- Ask for the spread over the external benchmark in writing, not just the headline rate
- Confirm the sanction date — prepayment protection applies to loans sanctioned or renewed on or after 1 January 2026
- Check whether the project is on the lender's approved-project (APF) list, and whether it is HARERA-registered
- For under-construction property, confirm disbursement is construction-linked, not builder-serviced
- Ask whether interest during construction is claimable in five instalments after possession — it is, but confirm the lender's certificate will support it
- Establish which tax regime you will be on before you fix the loan tenure
- Budget stamp duty and registration as cash — they cannot be added to the loan
A loan refusal on an unlicensed or unapproved project is a warning about the project, not about you. Treat it as free due diligence.
What we are not telling you
We are not quoting you an interest rate. Rates differ by lender, credit profile, loan size and the day you ask, and any single number published in a blog is out of date before it is read. Ask three lenders for the spread over the benchmark and compare that.
We are also not telling you which regime is better for you. That depends on your full income, your other deductions and your loan size, and it is a question for a chartered accountant with your actual numbers — not for a property website.
Sources & citations›
- RBI Master Circular on Housing Finance, RBI/2015-16/46, 1 July 2015 — paragraph 3(a) LTV ceilings; paragraph 3(b) exclusion of stamp duty and registration from cost of property; paragraph 3(c) exception for houses costing up to ₹10 lakh.
- RBI (Pre-payment Charges on Loans) Directions, 2025, RBI/2025-26/64, issued 2 July 2025 — effective for loans sanctioned or renewed on or after 1 January 2026.
- RBI repo rate 5.25%, as displayed on rbi.org.in on 6 August 2026.
- National Housing Bank Policy Circular No. 96/2019-20, 19 July 2019 — housing finance companies advised to desist from builder-serviced subvention products.
- Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025, assented 21 August 2025), in force 1 April 2026 — section 22(1)(b) and 22(2)(a) housing loan interest; section 22(1)(c) pre-construction interest in five instalments; section 123 principal; section 202 default regime.
- Income-tax Act, 1961, section 80EEA — available only on loans sanctioned between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2022.
- Stamp duty and registration figures as set out in Villow's guide to what buying a flat in Gurgaon actually costs.
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