The biggest loss has been an estimated 20% year-on-year drop in mortgage-financed house sales in June, say most banks and mortgage originators. But this figure has been exaggerated by the fact that many potential home buyers tried to seal deals before the June deadline for granting loans based on gross income.

Estate agents, however, are not altogether pain-free. "We have the discomfort of banks taking a month instead of a week to process bond applications, which is losing us some sales," says Samuel Seeff, head of the agency that bears his family's name. "Then we are getting some applicants who would have been approved pre-NCA but are now being declined and we must resell the properties."

But Jack Trevena, CEO of bond originator Excel, and Absa home loans chief Gavin Opperman point out that there are other pressures on the market: the 250 basis-point increase in bond interest rates in a year, building costs rising faster than incomes, and seasonal factors.

Trevena cites three ways in which banks and originators are struggling with the NCA.

First, banks are being particularly conservative as they work their way through the application phase of the act. "There is also some confusion," adds Trevena, former head of home loans at Nedbank. "Second, banks are grappling with the play between their old formula of affordability based on 30% of gross household income and the act's requirement for them to be sure their clients can afford the instalments.

"Third, the entire value chain is having to adjust to the psychology of the new act. Things are going to be muddy for a while."

Banks are juggling their need to maintain market share with the harsh penalties they pay for what the NCA calls reckless lending. A furniture retailer may sacrifice R5 000 in a bad transaction, but a mortgage lender can forfeit millions.

Each bank is dealing with these issues in its own way, so there is no industry standard. This is a headache for mortgage originators, who used to send one document to four banks at once: each one now demands different information from them.

"Originators are probably struggling most," says Anton de Leeuw, CEO of property education and information provider YDL. "They have to start thinking like banks instead of messengers."

But Kevin Lancaster, head of SA's biggest supplier of bonds to buyers, Betterbond, says things went relatively smoothly in June after record business of R6,3bn in May. "We don't yet have figures for June. I guess we are 20%-25% down but we should be back to normal in July."

He says originators have quickly learnt to match applicants with the particular requirements of each bank to make their lives easier. "Banks will standardise and reduce the time and paperwork," he adds.

The big question is whether banks will lose business because of the NCA. The popular answer is "no". Mortgages with current advances of R745bn - of which about R600bn are residential loans - are banks' biggest business "and they're not going to lose that", says Mortgage SA CEO Saul Geffen. "They'll take higher risks and price that in, so riskier mortgages could cost more."

Absa's Opperman expects to lose about 3% of applicants who would have been granted bonds on the old system, once the industry has settled into the NCA. "We will eventually develop industry standards," he says. "Meanwhile, this is legislation and should not be used for competitiveness."

He's right to worry about that because market share is everything to banks. Originators say Standard Bank and FNB have been better prepared than Nedbank and Absa, the biggest lender with 34% of the market. Standard, particularly, is said to be using its speed of response to pick up business.