While a further reduction to the interest rate would have been a bonus for aspirant first-time home buyers and existing homeowners with mortgages, the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to leave the repo rate unchanged at 3.5% was anticipated by the majority of market commentators, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

Sectional Title schemes that are not yet compliant with the reserve fund provisions of the Community Housing Schemes Ombud Services (CSOS) Act should rectify that position as soon as possible.

While the Home Buying Market is buoyant, still being driven by sharply lower interest rates this year.

Since June this year, residential property sales have escalated in the Eastern Cape hubs of Port Elizabeth and East London, and encouragingly, with brisk activity across all price ranges, reports Pam Golding Properties.

Further repo rate cut would have provided relief for economy and boosted housing market, says Dr Andrew Golding.

The residential property market in the Eastern Cape has remained surprisingly resilient during the unprecedented times the economy currently faces, says Pam Golding Properties.

The further reduction of the repo rate by 25 basis points to an all-time low of 3.5% takes the prime interest rate down to 7%, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

Experts are divided on whether the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will hold or decrease the repo rate later this month, according to Finder’s panel of 11 experts.

“The COVID-19 Crisis has changed the world a lot, perhaps less through introducing new trends and more through speeding up old trends,” said John Loos, FNB Economist at an FNB Commercial Property Finance (CPF) webinar earlier today.

In the midst of a rapidly contracting economy in limbo under an extended lockdown, today’s (21 May 2020) announcement of a further reduction of 50 bps in the repo rate will have a positive effect on the residential property market, albeit deferred until potential buyers can begin transacting in earnest, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.