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FNB April 2010 House Price Index
FNB - South Africa
Outlook
The recovery, from its beginnings late in 2008, has been under way for close to a year-and-a-half. We remain of the opinion that the peak in growth, be it demand growth or price growth, will be around mid-year/3rd quarter of 2010. This belief is derived from the fact that there has been a lack of further interest rate cutting since August 2009, implying a lack of further
demand stimulus, while this lack of further rate stimulus may also be instrumental in slowing the pace of acceleration in growth of the economy later in the year, and a few months of slowing growth in the Leading Business Cycle Indicator may be early hints of this.
April FNB Property Analytics

Law graduates face community service
Business Day - South Africa
The Cabinet had approved a law that would create community service for legal graduates along similar lines to that of doctors, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said yesterday.

Introducing his budget vote to the National Assembly, Radebe also announced a major reversal of the government's position on the Superior Courts Bill. The original version would have caused a massive upheaval in the legal community by placing administrative control of the courts in the hands of the minister. The latest version creates a court administration under the judiciary.
Business Day

Location and price most important to SA home buyers
Real Estate Web - South Africa
Nearly 80% of respondents to a new PropertyGenie poll hosted on behalf of Ooba - South Africa's leading bond originator - cited location and price as the most important factors to them when buying a home.

44% of respondents put location of the property at the top of their list of deciding factors, while 34% chose price. Views were most important to 10% of respondents, while proximity to work / school received 7% of the votes. Parking received 3%, while 2% said the fact that a property was newly refurbished was the key factor in their purchasing decision.

According to Craig Deats at ooba, the old adage of location, location, location still rings true for many South African homebuyers.

"While it is no secret that location plays a crucial role in determining the value of a property, many people still choose to ignore this fact, which can be extremely costly when buying primarily for investment purposes."
Real Estate Web