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Weekly Property News
Friday, 09 October, 2009 |
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FROM THE EDITOR |
Chicago - Want to live next door to US President Barack
Obama? The colonial mansion next to his Chicago home is now
available - for the right price. So far, the real estate
broker handling the sale won't even guess at what that price
might be. "We don't know what premium the Obama factor
will have," said Matt Garrison of Coldwell Banker. "If
it was a block away it would be somewhere in the (neighborhood)
average of $1,2 to $2-million (between R9-million and R14-million)."
But those hoping for an invite from Obama or the chance to
swap recipes with the First Lady might be setting themselves
up for disappointment.
Despite vowing to come home to Chicago as often as possible,
the Obamas spend most of their time in Washington and have
chosen Camp David and Martha's Vineyard for recent vacations.
The new owners will also have to contend with roadblocks and
screening by the Secret Service, what Garrison calls living
in "the ultimate gated community."
Headlines – House prices are set to rise again
in the near future, Absa said on Wednesday. In its latest
house price index, it found that nominal year-on-year price
deflation in the housing market had slowed down further in
September 2009. "If the latest trends are to continue,
house prices may start to rise on an annual basis before the
end of the year," Absa's senior property analyst Jacques
du Toit said. Evidence of upturn mounts
Market update: Fresh leaves are beginning to form
on the house market’s green shoots, says KwaZulu Natal
agency chief Keith Wakefield. “Our turnover for September
is 40% up on last year, from 160 to 220 units,” he adds.
“This is from the 5,5 percentage point interest-rate
fall coming through.” His fastest-recovering suburbs
are Kloof, Hillcrest and Westville, clustered around the N3
highway west of Durban. In Cape Town, Bill Rawson’s agency
had 68% turnover growth in the three months to August, compared
with 2008. “The main reason for this is that people can
see the market has bottomed out,” he says. “And
banks’ home loan approvals have risen from 50% to 60%.
A large number of cash buyers are also appearing.”
Property market looks perky
Enjoy!
The editor
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In
This Issue |
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Featured
Property |
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Western
Cape, Swellendam
Property Type: Guest House | A proclaimed national
monument, awarded 4 stars by the Tourist Grading Council
of SA...
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CyberProp
Property Count: 09/10/2009 |
| Search
Now |
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Properties for Sale: 134,885
Properties to Rent: 10,775
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Real
Estate News International |
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Local
News |
| Real
Estate news – Thursday property news wrap |
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'Industry regulation is essential'
All estate agents and managing agents must be registered
as debt collectors in order to legally demand and
collect any rent or levy payments in arrears, shows
a recent finding by the Debt Collectors Council,
says Property24... |
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| Evidence
of upturn mounts |
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House prices are set to rise again
in the near future, Absa said on Wednesday.
In its latest house price index, it found that
nominal year-on-year price deflation in the housing
market had slowed down further in September 2009...
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| Property
market looks perky |
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Fresh leaves are beginning to form on the house
market’s green shoots, with banks, rates,
carry trade change mood...
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| UK
home buy assistance schemes could give lessons to SA,
says Rawson MD |
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Those South African property trend
watchers who believe, probably rightly, that it
pays to keep an eye on the UK property market –
because it tends to set new trends six to nine months
ahead of the local market – will have noticed
that two initiatives have proved encouraging, despite
a general acceptance in UK... |
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| The
devil is in the detail in home sales |
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In the current market, most home sellers are
still focused on getting any offer to purchase
that is reasonably close to their asking price,
but they should not lose sight of the fact that
there are usually also many non-price terms to
be successfully negotiated before a deal can be
concluded...
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| Pumping
2010 property profits |
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Boom-time looming, or will overpriced homes get
"lucky break"?
There is a lot of talk at the moment about the
local property market starting to emerge from
its slump...
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| Estate
agents: A dying breed? |
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Survey shows high commissions, poor service rankle.
Time to sell property ourselves?
Estate agents may be right up there with lawyers
as some of the most disliked people on earth...
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| Don't
move your property out of a trust - yet |
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The introduction of a two-year property ‘tax
window' by SARS (the South African Revenue Service)
has been brought forward from 1 January 2010 and
will now apply retrospectively to disposals from
11 February 2009...
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Upcoming
Events |
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Focus
On |
Chas
Everitt plans extreme makeover for children’s home
The Chas Everitt International property group is gearing
up to give a section of the Durbanville Kinderhuis in Cape
Town an extreme makeover in October.
This follows the hugely successful revamp of the Kid’s
Haven on the Gauteng East Rand last year and forms part of
the group’s community involvement programme...
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Search
For Properties |
Search for property in your area
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In
the Area |
The areas we are going to take a closer look at this
week are;
- Middelburg
- East London
- St Francis Bay
| In
the Area 1 - Middelburg |
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The residential property market in Middelburg
in Mpumalanga is currently flush with bargains
– but the market is showing definite signs
of turning...
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| In
the Area 2 - East London |
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The East London property market is weathering
the current market travails well on the basis
of a well diversified economy and its growing
status as a region that offers an unmatched quality
of life...
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| In
the Area 3 - St Francis Bay |
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Despite constrained economic conditions, and
it being winter, buyers in St Francis Bay at the
gateway to the Garden Route is coming out of hibernation...
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To
the editor |
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To the editor:
Dear editor,
I am interested in any planned / upcoming
developments within the Eastern Cape. We
need the information for network planning
and load forecasting. We are trying to stay
ahead of developments to ensure that we
have enough capacity to accommodate future
demand.
Mavis Sitole
From the editor: Load sharing is
something that we all had to deal with the
last few years. If you have any information
that can help Eskom you can mail her at
sitolerm@eskom.co.za
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Send us your comments to news@cyberprop.com
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News
From |
| Jennifer
Paddock - Get them to cough up |
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Question:
I am a trustee of a scheme with 11 units. There
is one owner who owns three units and I am struggling
to get him to pay his levies as well as his water
and electricity.
Is there any legal action that we can take against
him? I have written several lawyer’s letters
to him without any success.
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