Weekly Property News
Friday, 28 August, 2009
FROM THE EDITOR

Second quarter national accounts data show South Africa's economy contracted for the third consecutive quarter. Though South Africa's financial system was spared the worst of the global financial crisis, finance, real estate and business services fell for the second straight quarter, constrained by tight credit.

Last week we placed an article with compelling arguments for why the property market will not recover any time soon just to follow up this week with various articles that there is light at the end of the tunnel after all. It has been reported that there is for sure an increase in demand in some area and the property experts are convinced that the residential market has bottomed out.

In this issue a release from Tony Bales of Bales Investprop on the issues surrounding bank lending in SA currently and the effect this has on the development, construction and investment sectors of the SA economy.

Enjoy!
The editor

CyberProp Property Count: 28/08/2009

Search Now

Properties for Sale: 133,940
Properties to Rent: 10,488
In This Issue
Featured Property

KwaZulu Natal, Tongaat, La Mercy

Property Type: Apartment | Bedrooms: 3 | Bathrooms: 2
Real Estate News International

Plunge in manufacturing output extends recession
The South African economy contracted for the third consecutive quarter in the three months through June....

Local News

Power Cuts Threaten South Africa’s Economic Recovery
South Africa’s economic recovery is under threat because its national power utility is unable to raise funds to build power plants needed to keep the world’s biggest precious metal mines running...
Property activity picks up
More activity in the property market is evident in several parts of the country – but the reasons are as diverse as the areas, agents say...
Property on the mend
Property experts seem convinced that South Africa's residential market has bottomed and in some areas a marginal increase in demand is being experienced...
Spring property buying season blooms
If you leave it too late you’ll end up at the end of a queue of market-savvy buyers who have already decided that spring is the time to move ahead with their property buying plans...
Deflating in house prices is easing off, says ABSA survey
The managing director of Greeff Properties, Graham Leslie, has drawn attention to the August ABSA house price index...
Residential property prices are perking up

So why don't we all feel cheerful?

A property sales' consultant in a foul mood phoned me this week to vent some spleen. Why, he demanded to know, do people visit show houses that are hopelessly beyond their financial reach, presumably wasting time for themselves and the estate agency person on duty in the home for sale...

Not as safe as houses

Why the bank won't give you a mortgage.

Years of turf war and fighting for market share has decimated the banks' home loan profits. The big three banks that reported their annual results have all shown significant losses in their home loan business...
Are SA Banks eroding their own asset base?
With current bank lending extremely low, property investors are becoming increasingly concerned that the SA Banks are suffocating the commercial property market...

Banks can now come to the party now that interest rates on loans are affordable, says
APKF MD
The recent 0,5% further drop in interest rates – the sixth since the high point of 15,5% reached in June 2008 – is welcome and will go a long way to stimulating the residential property market...
Tax dodgers are boosting property prices
World's tax havens are tops as global residential real estate improves...
Efforts to shed light on rates increase by City of Johannesburg continue
The South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), which represents the interests of commercial property owners countrywide, has been attempting to clarify the issue of the proposed Alignment of Commercial Property Rates with the City of Johannesburg...
Appearance rules protect values
There are many benefits to living in gated estates: Owners can enjoy living freely among their neighbours, additional security comes standard and lower monthly outlays are usually the norm...
Focus On

Tongaat, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Set on the banks of the Utongati River (from which is name was derived), it is an English village with cosmopolitan flavour, supporting one of the largest sugar producing districts in the world...

>> View Properties in Tongaat
>> View Properties in KwaZulu Natal

Chas Everitt Home MakeOver

Search For Properties

1. Western Cape
2. Garden Route
3. Northern Cape
4. Eastern Cape
5. KwaZulu Natal
6. Free State
7. North West
8. Gauteng
9. Mpumalanga
10. Limpopo

Search for property in your area

Enter City/Suburb:

In the Area

The areas we are going to take a closer look at this week are;

  • Sedgefield
In the Area 1 - Sedgefield
The well-priced Aviemore development near Sedgefield in the Southern Cape has continued to draw buyers despite the economic downturn and is now more than 80% sold out...

News From

IHFM - Property Management
Levy payment defaults can - and do - cripple sectional title schemes and home owner's associations...

To the editor
 

(Last week)

To the editor:

How come there is always 3 and a half percent between the repo rate and the prime rate? I understand that this is where the banks make a profit but when they charge 13 and a half from 10 percent repo then they make a 35 percent mark-up but now at a repo of 7 they make a 50 percent mark-up! Am I understanding this correctly?

Peter

From the editor:

Peter we had no response from any of the lending houses and therefore place your question for a 2nd time this week.

If you have an answer for Peter send it to news@cyberprop.com
Cape Town's planners have to allow for more - but better - informal settlements, says real estate chief executive
Mike Greeff, Chief Executive of Greeff Properties, has drawn attention to an alarming report, now being regularly aired as an audiovisual presentation by Gerry Adlard of the African Centre for Cities which is associated with the University of Cape Town....
CyberAgent, the real estate software solution

CyberAgent has been the real estate software of choice over the last 10 years for many of South Africa's leading real estate companies, with over 1200 customers country wide.
CyberAgent makes canvassing easy! Use data from SAPTG, CyberTrade and the Deeds office to do mail drops!
CyberAgent enables the estate agent to manage buyers and sellers, sending them birthday cards, emails etc.
CyberAgent enables the estate agent to manage properties and print great reports with a click of a button.
CyberAgent enables the estate agency to keep track of sales related commissions, VAT, outstanding payments and more...
Get your own dynamic website linked to CyberAgent.
Great exposure! Through your CyberAgent application all properties updated to your site are also send to www.cyberprop.com and to over 50 other property portals.
>> View list of property portals

If you would like to know more about the above features and benefits that CyberAgent offer, visit: www.cyberagent.co.za or email: sales@cyberprop.com
Get in touch