Pam Golding Properties (PGP), the residential arm of Pam Golding Group sold homes worth 1.5 billion rand last month, 30% higher than the same period last year, it said.
"We are now well on track to achieving total residential sales of approximately 16 billion rand for the financial year ended February 2007," said Pam Golding's CE Andrew Golding.
He added that the sales figures came amidst a flurry of economic data showing that the housing market was cooling off as consumer's buying resistance caused by four interest rate hikes last year flow through.
"But just as the horizon began to look gloomy, February's decision by the (South African) Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee not to further raise interest rates helped assuage consumers' fears that we had entered a prolonged upward cycle," he said.
He added that with a National Budget focused on job creation along with some tax relief, consumer confidence and spending power might be boosted, and housing demand would pick up again, particularly in the lower and middle-income segments.
"All regions made a noteworthy contribution to the company's exceptional performance in January. Of particular interest is the combined turnover of almost 567 million rand achieved by the Western Cape metro and Boland & Overberg regions.
In Gauteng, the Garden Route, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu- Natal regions the company continues to grow market share, while PGP continues to achieve significant growth and make inroads into new markets in the country's central or inland provinces," said Golding.
Pam Golding noted "a perceptible upturn" in sales to overseas buyers, including SA expatriates due mainly to global investor confidence in the country as prime destination and positive outlook ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
"In addition we have found overseas buyers arriving earlier this year than usual, particularly in regard to the greater Western Cape area," said Golding.
On the average price of homes Golding noted that generally, over the past 11 months, price ranged from 1 to 2 million rand - an extremely active market.
Over this same period and in the Western Cape region, in terms of rand value 52% of PGP's residential sales were concluded in the price range between 1 million rand and 4 million rand. This represents 43% of sales in the region in terms of units.
The average selling price in the Western Cape over this period was 1.97 million rand, buoyed by some exceptional individual sales in excess of 20 million rand, Golding concluded.
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Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
