The index, which is used by the Reserve Bank to purposes of inflation targeting, has been revised from an annual 9.3% to 8.5%. The revision was necessitated by the discovery of an error on housing and rental figures which appeared to be outdated.

Cluttons SA managing director, Andrew Smith, said that the obvious implication arising from the revision would be the Reserve Bank re-looking interest rates at the next meeting of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Council in June.

Furthermore, Smith said, “This will not only be a welcome relief for property buyers and owners, but also serve to re-assure international investors’ perception of the reliability of monetary statistics in the country.”

“Coupled with this, is the revision of the consumer price index (CPI) –which does include mortgage costs –from 10.2% to 8.8% for the same 12-month period.

Smith added that the clarity afforded by the revision would greatly assist in the forward planning for everyone involved with property.

“Statistics SA has to be commended for the transparent manner in which they acknowledged the error and the expedition with which they rectified the anomaly.”