Homeowner Sentiment Index
South Africa - Absa
Property market sentiment declined further in the third quarter of 2018
After reaching a recent high in the fourth quarter of 2017, the level of positive sentiment regarding conditions in the South African residential property market remained on a gradual downward trend up to the third quarter of 2018.
Homeowner Sentiment Index (HSI) results
The overall national HSI score, which reflects the percentage of survey respondents with positive sentiment regarding residential property market conditions in the country, was marginally lower at 72% in the third quarter of 2018 compared with 73% in the second quarter. The main positive and negative sentiment-related factors mentioned by survey respondents were as follows in the third quarter of the year (percentage of respondents in brackets):
- Positive factors: Property is a secure asset (38%) and still increases in value (22%).
- Negative factors: The land reform aspect is detrimental to property investment (28%), the economy is in recession (19%) and there is continued political uncertainty (17%).
Homeowner sentiment sub-indices results
The HSI sub-indices were all lower at a national level in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the first and second quarters, indicating that consumers remained well aware of market conditions and influencing factors, which made them more wary of engaging in property-related transactions up to the third quarter of the year.
Absa Home Owner Sentiment Q3 2018
NSW Trials Blockchain for Conveyancing
Australia - The Urban Developer
The New South Wales government looks set to trial the emerging potential of blockchain ledger technology in order to make property conveyancing cheaper, more reliable and secure.
The NSW Land Registry Services has partnered with Stockholm-based blockchain specialists ChromaWay, who gained notoriety for pioneering a platform for the Swedish land registry, streamlining the countries land ownership records.
Blockchains are shared, tamperproof, peer-to-peer digital ledgers that enable a single, global version of transaction truth.
The Urban Developer
BetterBond'?s new brand identity: It?s all in the name
South Africa - IolProperty
This month sees the launch of a massive multi-platform campaign to ramp up awareness of the new branding for leading bond originator BetterBond ? and to simultaneously ensure that consumers become much more familiar with the benefits of bond origination generally.
For Pretoria-based agency BRAND et al, the new brand identity was, as it were, hiding in plain sight. It?s not very often that an organisation?s brand name has the power to define an entire industry. And when it does, well, that?s just complete dominance.
So the strategy team chose to peg the entire campaign on the BetterBond name, evolving the new brand identity through a self-referential sleight of hand: Simply put, the sole purpose of bond originators is to offer consumers better bonds. BetterBond?s strength clearly lay in the power of their name, because it defines precisely who they are and what they do. And it also happens to be their brand promise. No competitor can own those words or put them in their name. They can use those words? but every time they do, they?re inadvertently endorsing their competition.
IolProperty
Will Q4 be a turning point for Western Cape property?
South Africa - Rawson
The Western Cape is renowned for its buoyant property market, which has made the recent months of relative price stagnation unusually worrying for residents accustomed to consistent growth. The effects of the economic, political and climatic pressures have been undeniable, but experts say all is not lost for investors hoping to turn a profit.
According to Schalk van der Merwe, franchisee at the Rawson Properties Helderberg Group, the fourth quarter of this year could well be the turning point that kickstarts the Western Cape’s property market back into high gear. He attributes this positive outlook to progress in three of the key areas responsible for the last year’s local property contraction: the drought crisis, a decrease in semigration and an uncertain political standpoint.
Rawson
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