Renting out a residential property is a great source of income, if managed correctly.

Buyers and sellers alike often see an estate agent as a necessary evil when it comes to purchasing property.

While the South African residential property market is showing signs of strain, prices in the Western Cape just keep going up.

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court which states that the current owner can be held liable for any arrears in taxes, rates and other utilities incurred by past owners – going back up to 30 years – comes as a blow to the property market.

The SARBs Monetary Policy Committee has raised the repo rate by 50 basis points taking it to 6. 75% during its first meeting in 2016.

Residential property growth in Gauteng has been lacklustre at best over the past two years, with prices for existing properties achieving little to no growth (once adjusted for inflation).

Living near your place of work is a growing trend around the world, but anyone looking to buy a residential property in Cape Town knows that there are too many buyers and too few properties available.

On Thursday the SARB Monetary Policy Committee elected not to raise the repo rate which will remain unchanged at 5.5% until the next meeting on the 17th of July.

Property doyens comment on the impact the 50-basis repo rate increase will have on property.

The United States has long held sway over the global economy and as such its welfare has had far reaching implications for the rest of the world. Cue the sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007 which effectively crashed the US housing market, and of which the effects are still very much in evidence, particularly in America and parts of Europe.