PROPERTY
NEWS HEADLINES
2013 April 17
- Encouraged by ongoing positive trends property market
“We are very encouraged by the ongoing steady flow of
positive growth in the property sector,” says Deirdre Fibiger, Director of
Property Network, reacting to latest statistics from Ooba.
Ooba continues to report record approval rates on top
of the record highs set in the last quarter of 2012. The value of home loans
approved through ooba in the first quarter of 2013 is up 23% on 2012. For
the last six months of 2012, ooba’s approved home loans value was up by 38.8%
compared to the same period in 2011.
“There is no doubt that there is growing activity in the
property market, supported by increased confidence from both buyers and
lenders,” says Fibiger.
The average house price for first-time buyers was strongly
up by 9.6% year on year to R690,474 but down 1.2% month on month from R698,721
in February.
Further positive news for homebuyers is the continued drop
in the average home loan deposit, dropping substantially by 21.2% year on year
to R120,936, equivalent to 13.4% of the average purchase price. “This is
further indication of the banks’ confidence in improving market conditions, and
is good news for home loan applicants,” says Lew Geffen of Ooba.
What is of particular interest, is the continued trend of
the high ration of first time buyers with almost 52% of Ooba applications
received in March falling into this category. “With our team of dedicated buyer
agents, we have positioned ourselves perfectly to assist first time buyers with
not only their selection process but also to guide them on financing and the
legal aspects of home ownership,” said Fibiger.
Fibiger has cautioned
both buyers and sellers not to get carried away with the good news but to
realise that these trends are simply the property market flexing its muscles
against an overall economic picture. “We do not believe that we are entering a
new economic upturn yet but simply experiencing a rectification of past
negativity.”
“We still advise our clients to save up for as
large a deposit as possible, as this still increases their chances of having
their home loan approved and on better terms,” she said, “as well as keeping
our seller’s expectations realistic in terms of setting their selling prices.”
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