South Africa’s largest bond originator, ooba, has released its property statistics for the first quarter of 2017 (Q1 2017).

In April 2017, the FNB House Price Index showed some further acceleration in year-on-year growth compared with the March rate, after having gone through a “dip” late in 2016.

The downgrading of South Africa's debt to junk status and the firing of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister mean that interest rates will be on hold until 2020 at least, a poll of economists predicted yesterday.

The Reserve Bank has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 7% per annum, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday.

“We welcome today’s decision by the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain the repo rate at 7% as it provides some relief to consumers dealing with rising food inflation and taxes”, says Bruce Swain, CEO of Leapfrog Property Group.

The first month of 2017 saw the value of outstanding credit balances in the South African household sector rising by a much subdued 0,6% year-on-year (y/y) to R1 494,2 billion, after growth of 0,7% y/y at end-2016.

The raising of the threshold for transfer duty on properties sold for less than R900 000, up from R750 000, as announced in today’s National Budget, is positive news as it provides some relief for first time home buyers, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

South Africans can expect growth of 1.3% in 2017, which is expected to improve moderately to over 2% in the medium term, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

As Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tabled what appeared to be a pro-poor budget, he has announced that relief will be given to the affordable housing market.

The value of outstanding credit balances in the South African household sector increased by a negligible 0,7% to R1 485,7 billion in 2016, down from growth of 4,5% in 2015.