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.

With high debt-to-disposable income levels and the difficulty of obtaining a home loan still a factor, more and more South Africans are opting to rent property.

During the last meeting of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee in September this year it was decided to leave interest rates unchanged for the seventh time, a decision that has made it easier for many home owners to comfortably pay their mortgages.

When it comes to buying a property most buyers are aware of the cost of obtaining a bond, transfer duties and lawyers fees; not many new home owner consider the cost of municipal rates. 

Data released by Statistics SA indicates that 363 000 black South Africans had mortgages in 2011