In the current economic environment, businesses are keen to reduce debt by paying down their commercial loans.

First quarter oobarometer statistics released by ooba, South Africa’s foremost home loan comparison service, show continued robust growth in the residential property sector despite a year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout.   

So asks Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

The property market is holding steady in challenging times, with the lower end of the market accounting for the bulk of home loan applications.

As a new home-owner, you are going to need three types of insurance – at least one of which may be completely new to you.

Despite weak economic fundamentals resulting in negative real house price growth, the banking industry continues to show confidence in South Africa’s property market by further relaxing their lending criteria and approving home loan finance at levels last seen 12 years ago.

Bondspark CEO, Marcel du Toit says that there are several reasons behind the overall improvement of the local property sector this quarter.

Credit and mortgage balances in the first half of 2019, with divergent home loan repayment patterns evident across household income categories up to mid-2019.

Buying a new home continues to become more affordable as weakening housing demand results in ongoing negative real price growth (after inflation) in the residential property market.

2018 was a challenging year for the South African property market, with negative real price growth in the residential property market and slowing market activity.