RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY MARKET TRENDS

WHAT DO SURVEYED AGENTS PREDICT? The FNB Estate Agent Survey is an audit of a sample of estate agents predominantly in South Africa’s major metro regions, published in January 2017. The key question in this survey was: “Does the agent expect activity levels to increase, remain the same or decline in the next three months?” The responses were aggregated into the percentage of agents expecting each of the three outcomes. In Q4 2016, the percentage of agents expecting a decrease in activity in the next three months was 25%, those expecting unchanged activity measured 50%, while the remaining 25% expected an increase. One of the questions in the survey referred to agents’ perceptions of residential market activity in their areas, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the strongest level of activity. The Residential Activity Indicator in the quarter rose slightly to 5.75, from the previous quarter’s 5.59.

ON MORTGAGE LENDING

Loos says that new mortgage lending trend changes normally only follow an Activity Rating growth trend change with a considerable lag time. “Therefore, even if residential activity is gradually turning upwards, new mortgage lending could still be in year-on-year decline for the first half of this year,” he says.

BUYING WITHIN THE RESIDENTIAL MARKET

As Estate Agents, our role is to guide our clients through the process of buying and/or selling their property in the midst of a market that is slowly turning up.

Some tips to our buyers:

First-time buyers want a foot in the property market. Try to save for a deposit first so that your home loan application is less likely to be turned down. A typical deposit should be 10%-20% of the purchase price.