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More nice, more price
Iafrica.com - South Africa
A little over a year ago buying and selling property was simple, but now things are different. Increasing bond rates and deteriorating confidence in the property market are leading to house prices remaining flat.

"The current market situation means that it is now a buyers' market with many sellers being forced to lower their expectations and compromise on price," says Linda Erasmus, CEO of Fine & Country South Africa.

Erasmus, together with JP Dippenaar, Maxvest CEO, provides sellers with several tips on how to get the best price for their property:
IAfrica.com

ABSA, DBSA sign deal to fund cheap houses
Business Report - South Africa
Pretoria - Affordable housing and infrastructure development in South Africa will receive a further boost following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between banking group ABSA and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

On Friday ABSA chairman Gill Marcus and DBSA chief executive Paul Baloyi signed the agreement, under which the two institutions will co-operate in providing funding for affordable housing, infrastructure projects and municipal services.

This is the third agreement with public sector development and financing organisations signed by ABSA in the past four months, aimed at speeding up affordable housing delivery.
Business Report

Growth in nominal house prices lowest since 1999
Business Day - South Africa
Nominal house price growth has dipped to less than 10% for the first time since the residential property boom began in 2000, as higher interest rates, slower growth in real household disposable income and the effects of the National Credit Act brought pressure to bear on the property market.

According to the latest ABSA house p rice index, nominal growth in the middle segment of the market slowed to 9,1% last month, the lowest since 9,3% in December 1999.

ABSA said that, although the full effect of the electricity crisis still had to be determined, it may have a negative effect on overall production, fixed capital formation, employment, income and consumption.
BusinessDay

Court chaos over Delft eviction order
Mail and Guardian Online - South Africa
Pandemonium broke out in the Cape High Court on Wednesday after Judge Deon van Zyl granted an order for the eviction of people illegally occupying houses still under construction in Delft on the Cape Flats.

The homes, some still under construction, are intended for residents at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, who are to be relocated to Delft. The eviction order stated that those illegally occupying the houses had to vacate the properties by midnight on Sunday February 17. Van Zyl said he could not consider the request by counsel Andre Coetzee that they be given a month to find other accommodation.

The judge ruled in favour of the eviction after senior counsel Steve Kirk-Cohen, representing the developer of the N2 Gateway Project, told the court: "The rule of law must prevail, no matter the hardship."
Mail and Guardian