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Mortgage originator: property prices have ticked up
RealEstateWeb - South Africa
But affluent buyers are skewing South Africa's house price stats

The June oobarometer price index recorded a nominal increase in year-on-year house prices of 1.2%.

"The latest oobarometer shows a very slight improvement in year-on-year house prices," says Saul Geffen, chief executive of ooba. "Rather than suggesting a recovery in the market place, this may be attributed to a shift to higher priced properties in June, given affluent homebuyers' ability to better adapt to strict bank lending practices."

The average purchase price according to the oobarometer is R774,449 in June 2008, compared to R784,427, in June 2009.

The month-on-month average purchase price has also increased nominally by 1.4% from R773,440 in May of this year.
RealEstateWeb

Residential Property - July 2009
Pam Golding - South Africa

Brighter borrowing
Signs that the banks' mood is improving towards mortgage seekers is welcome news. But cash is still king in the residential property market.

The fact that the Reserve Bank decided not to cut interest rates at the end of June, which shocked many analysts, was more or less to be expected. Governor Tito Mboweni hinted at the decision at the May meeting of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, when the Bank cut the repo rate by 100 basis points.

He warned then that there was little scope for further significant cuts, adding that cuts at "every" MPC meeting should not be expected.
Pam Golding

Be sure to exercise option in good time
Business Day - South Africa
Tenants who have an option to purchase their premises should take heed of a Supreme Court of Appeal judgment handed down last month, where Cape-based E&D Motors lost their option to buy by reason of a change in landlord.
After reviewing the judgment, it is evident that the case turned on the enforceability of an option to purchase business premises situated at the Ottery Hypermarket Shopping Centre in Cape Town, which was granted to E&D Motors, as the tenant, by its previous landlord Quantum Leap Investments (Quantum).

E&D Motors signed the lease on 19 November 2002 and commenced building alterations to the premises to suit its trading specifications and took occupation in February 2003. Both the offer to lease and the lease agreement granted E&D Motors an option to purchase the premises.
Business Day