National Budget geared to instill confidence

In January 2018, the FNB House Price Index showed a slowing in year-on-year growth compared with the revised December 2017 rate. This comes after some prior months of accelerating year-on-year growth.

The repurchase rate will remain unchanged at 6.75% per annum, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago has announced.

Negativity seems to have become the fashion in SA’s real estate industry over the past few months, but while there will be challenges, the property market is not going to “fall off a cliff” in 2018, says Berry Everitt, CEO of the Chas Everitt International property group.

With much still riding on the outcome of the ANC elective conference later this month (16-20 December 2017) which, coupled with the Budget Speech in February next year (2018), will impact on business and consumer confidence and market sentiment in general.

Standard & Poor's Global Ratings has again downgraded SA's foreign and local currency ratings by one notch each to BB and BB+ respectively.

The Reserve Bank on Thursday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.75% per annum, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said.

The first three quarters of 2017 saw building activity in the South African market for new private sector-financed housing (see explanatory notes) contracting in both the planning and construction phases compared with the corresponding period last year, based on data released by Statistics South Africa.

According to StatsSA CPI (Consumer Price Index) figures, residential rental inflation has been outstripping average house price inflation of late.

The value of outstanding credit balances in the South African household sector continued to show relatively low growth in the first nine months of 2017, rising by 3,3% year-on-year (y/y) to a level of R1 522,6 billion.