1. At a Glance
Home First is the fintech housing lender your builder friend probably pitched to. With AUM up 29% YoY to ₹13,479 Cr, PAT up 36% to ₹119 Cr, and stock up 44% in 12 months — this micro-mortgage master is now demanding macro-level valuation. But at 5.28x book and 37x P/E… the price tag screams: “Housing loan? Nah, try IPO loan.”
2. Introduction with Hook
Imagine if Zerodha and LIC Housing had a baby. The baby grows up in tech bootcamp, builds a loan app, and then hands out home loans faster than Swiggy delivers your biryani.
That’s Home First Finance — serving India’s salaried and self-employed middle class with sub-₹50k income, no CIBIL drama, and lightning-fast loan sanctions. Think digital, small-ticket, high-speed lending to Bharat’s aspiring homeowners.
And with 36.9% PAT CAGR in 5 years, it’s been compounding harder than your dad’s PPF.
3. Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)
They lend home loans to people who hate paperwork and earn under ₹50k/month. Target customers are typically:
- Salaried: Delivery guys, retail workers, factory floor hustlers
- Self-employed: Kirana stores, chaiwalas, and small-town Sachins
And the pitch?
- 100% paperless loan approvals (bless their dev team)
- TAT <48 hours
- Sachet-sized EMIs
Basically, they do what PSU banks don’t — and charge a slight premium for it.
4. Financials Overview
| Metric | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | TTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₹796 Cr | ₹1,157 Cr | ₹1,539 Cr | ₹1,647 Cr |
| Net Profit | ₹228 Cr | ₹306 Cr | ₹382 Cr | ₹413 Cr |
| ROE | 13% | 16% | 16% | 16% |
| EPS | ₹25.94 | ₹34.54 | ₹42.43 | ₹44.35 |
Margins have narrowed slightly — financing margin down from 38% to 34% — but volumes made up for it.
Growth trajectory? Straighter than a fresh-outta-college engineer’s LinkedIn pitch.
5. Valuation
- P/E: 37x
- P/B: 5.28x
- ROE: 16.5%
- Book Value: ₹280
Method 1: ROE x PB Method
Fair P/B = ROE / COE ≈ 16.5% / 13% ≈ 1.27x
But the market’s paying 5.3x
Method 2: P/E Relative Valuation
Aptus: 23x
Aadhar: 22.6x
Home First: 37x
Even if we assume premium pricing due to tech edge, 25–30x is probably max comfort.
Fair Value Range: ₹950 – ₹1,150
Anything beyond this? You’re buying a loan company like it’s Netflix.
6. What’s Cooking – News, Triggers, Drama
- Q1 FY26 PAT up 35.5% — That’s no joke.
- QIP of ₹1,250 Cr completed in June. All funds deployed, no deviation. CFO is clearly not chilling.
- Credit Rating Upgraded to AA/Stable — finally getting recognition for clean books and clean growth.
- FIIs are flooding in — up from 10% to 37% in under 2 years.
Still no corporate governance goof-ups, no asset-liability mismatches, no fraud exposés. Boring? No. Beautiful? Definitely.
7. Balance Sheet
| Item | FY25 |
|---|---|
| Equity | ₹18 Cr |
| Reserves | ₹2,503 Cr |
| Borrowings | ₹9,551 Cr |
| Total Assets | ₹12,212 Cr |
Asset-light? Nope. But reasonably geared and fresh QIP cash means no stress, no drama, no desperate Tier II bank debt.
Borrowings up, but so is scale. If you want growth, get used to seeing leverage. But it’s under control — think gym weights, not steroid abuse.
8. Cash Flow – Sab Number Game Hai
| Year | CFO | CFI | CFF | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY23 | ₹-807 Cr | ₹804 Cr | ₹411 Cr | ₹408 Cr |
| FY24 | ₹-1,469 Cr | ₹-267 Cr | ₹1,353 Cr | ₹-382 Cr |
| FY25 | ₹-1,908 Cr | ₹-217 Cr | ₹2,217 Cr | ₹19 Cr |
Negative operating cash flow? Welcome to housing finance. The receivables sit there smiling while the company raises debt and equity to grow. But QIP has bought them 2–3 years of firepower.
9. Ratios – Sexy or Stressy?
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| ROE | 16.5% |
| ROCE | 11.4% |
| P/E | 37x |
| P/BV | 5.28x |
| Gross NPA | 1.70% |
| Net NPA | 1.30% |
Return metrics are hot. NPAs are under 2% in subprime housing — that’s cleaner than half the PSU mortgage books.
The only stressy thing? P/B. 5.28x is nosebleed zone. Be careful — valuations this high need constant good news to stay upright.
10. P&L Breakdown – Show Me the Money
| Year | Revenue | PAT | EPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY23 | ₹796 Cr | ₹228 Cr | ₹25.94 |
| FY24 | ₹1,157 Cr | ₹306 Cr | ₹34.54 |
| FY25 | ₹1,539 Cr | ₹382 Cr | ₹42.43 |
If your CAGR looked like this, you’d be on Shark Tank tomorrow. Revenue and profit up 30%+ annually. It’s not just “high growth” — it’s “rocket launch in EMI instalments”.
11. Peer Comparison
| Company | EPS | P/E | ROE | P/B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIC Housing | ₹38 | 6.14x | 16% | 0.92x |
| Aadhar Housing | ₹23 | 22.6x | 17% | 3.36x |
| Aptus | ₹23 | 23.16x | 18.5% | 4.04x |
| Home First | ₹44.35 | 36.99x | 16.5% | 5.28x |
Home First is the most expensive in the peer group. That’s the premium you pay for tech + fast growth + low NPAs. Just know it’s priced like Tesla in a Maruti pack.
12. Miscellaneous – Shareholding, Promoters
| Category | Jun 2023 | Jun 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Promoters | 30.2% | 12.4% |
| FIIs | 17.6% | 37.2% |
| DIIs | 10.0% | 21.9% |
| Public | 42.2% | 28.5% |
Promoters have slowly exited. But FIIs and DIIs are very bullish. The drop in promoter stake is strategic — not scandalous.
Retail participation has dipped. Institutions now control the ship.
13. EduInvesting Verdict™
Home First is not your usual NBFC. It’s growing fast, cleanly, and digitally. It’s the iPhone of housing finance — slick, premium, and aggressively priced.
But valuations are spicy. So unless you’re okay buying a loan book with a P/E of 37x, tread with clarity — not just FOMO.
A superb growth story — just remember, even Cinderella had a curfew.
Written by EduInvesting Team | 25 July 2025
Tags: Home First Finance, Housing Finance, Q1 FY26 Results, Edu Style Article, EduInvesting Premium
