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Who wants to be a millionaire?
Realestateweb.co.za - South Africa
Many estate agents are earning vast sums, with one property sales company boasting 124 millionaires.

What's more, many top-earners don't work in exclusive areas where properties fetch many millions of rands and generate massive commissions. Instead, they are earning lucrative incomes doing deals in middle-class suburbs.

RE/MAX of Southern Africa, which specialises in selling existing residential units in ordinary suburbs, revealed to Realestateweb that 124 of its agents have earned more than R1m in sales' commissions from January to November.

These are agents who focus on residential resales, as RE/MAX does not have as a strong focus on sales in new developments and it does not sell in fractional ownership schemes.
Realestateweb.co.za

Average house costs R963 000
Fin24.co.za - South Africa
Growth in house prices in the middle segment of the market declined to a nominal 12.5% year-on-year (y/y) in November 2007 - the lowest price growth since January 2000, when it was 12.0%, the ABSA House Price index showed on Wednesday.

Nominal price growth of 13.6% y/y was recorded in October this year.

The average price of a house was about R963,000 in November. In the first eleven months of the year, nominal house price growth averaged 14.9% compared with the same period last year.

Real year-on-year price growth came to 5.3% y/y in October (6.8% in September). In the first ten months of 2007, real growth in house prices averaged 7.7% y/y. The real growth rate is based on the headline consumer price index (CPI).
Fin24.co.za

Slowdown in house price growth escalating
RodneyHayter.com - South Africa
The latest ABSA house price index indicates that growth in house prices in the middle segment of the market declined to a nominal 12,5% year-on-year (y/y) in November 2007- the lowest price growth since January 2000, when it was 12,0%.

Nominal price growth of 13,6% y/y was recorded in October this year. This is according to the latest ABSA House Price Index, which indicates that the average price of a house was about R963,000 in November. In the first eleven months of the year, nominal house price growth averaged 14,9% compared with

Real year-on-year price growth came to 5,3% y/y in October (6,8% in September). In the first ten months of 2007, real growth in house prices averaged 7,7% y/y. The real growth
rate is based on the headline consumer price index (CPI). On a month-on-month basis, nominal house price growth slowed to 0,5% in November from 0,6% in October. In real terms, house prices declined by 0,3% in October compared with September.
RodneyHayter.com

Extension of estate agent exam welcomed
BusinessDay.co.za - South Africa
The announcement this month by the Estate Agency Affairs Board that implementation of new qualifying exams for estate agents would be extended has been generally welcomed by real estate companies.

This extension means that estate agents entering the industry will still write examinations on the old syllabus in March next year.

Jeanne van Jaarsveldt, marketing and finance director for Re/Max of southern Africa, said yesterday that there was a "continual influx of people who want to enter the industry as estate agents".

Had the exam not been scheduled under the old dispensation, "no new entrants would have been allowed into the estate agency profession from January as the new training requirements have not been concluded", Van Jaarsveld said.
BusinessDay.co.za