On the Mumbai Stock Exchnage, LIC Housing has risen by 23 per cent to Rs 54, GIC Housing by 22 per cent to Rs 28 and SBI Home Finance by 13 per cent to Rs 17. On NSE, the gain in LIC Housing is around 22.6 per cent -- from Rs 22.7 to Rs 27.9. GIC Housing has risen by 22.6 per cent to Rs 54 on NSE. However, the top gainer in this sector is Indbank Housing Finance whose scrip has doubled to Rs 6. The LIC Housing scrip had been on a downward spiral since its mid-April high of Rs 63. Within a month, the scrip had fallen to Rs 41.50 and remainedrange-bound till May 29. It bounced back after the budget was announced and closed at Rs 54 on June 3. The counter has witnessed huge volumes of around 11.6 lakh shares from 1-1.5 lakh shares earlier.

HDFC has also gained by around 4.5 per cent on the bourses accompanied by a phenomenal rise in trading volumes. From the previous trading volumes of 1,500-2,000 shares, the HDFC counter on BSE reported a volume of 64,700 shares on June 3. On BSE, the scrip has moved up from Rs 3152 to Rs 3295 and on NSE from Rs 3167 to Rs 3307. The Union budget has announced a series of concessions for the housing sector and these are expected to trickle down and boost the bottomlines of housing finance companies. While the proposal to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling (Regulation) Act would help bridge the existing demand-supply mismatch in urban land available for construction purposes, concessions like tax-holiday for housing projects would boost bottomlines.