Jump in property sales
19 November 2009
Massive increases in South African residential property sales have been reported by Seeff Properties.
"Residential sales alone for the period July to October 2009 were a marked 54.3 percent up on the same period last year," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The number of units sold by the agency last month was 133 percent higher than the number of units sold during October 2008."
Chairperson Samuel Seeff ascribed the jump in sales to a number of factors.
"Without a doubt, the low interest rates that have kicked in have made housing more affordable," he said.
"Coupled with that, banks are now starting to decrease their loan to value criteria, and the pent-up demand ... since the introduction of the National Credit Act has started to come through into the market, converting many from market watchers to market participants."
Seeff said there remained an oversupply of properties on the market that still needed to be taken up.
Prices should, therefore, stay relatively stable until after the 2010 World Cup, he said.
Sapa
