PROPERTY MARKET
“I won’t speak of an
outright turnaround
favouring sellers as yet,
but there certainly is
improvement.”
Pam Golding Chief Executive Dr Andrew Golding agrees that
the lending landscape looks a lot rosier. “The biggest driver of
our market is still the extent to which consumers are able to
access credit, and in this regard the major lenders in the country
certainly seem to have an increased appetite.”
However, with the GDP having just recorded its worst growth
in five years and inflationary pressures eroding the rand’s
performance against other currencies, fears are that Reserve Bank
governor Gill Marcus will have no other option but to discourage
lending with a repo-rate adjustment in coming months.
Golding doesn’t believe it will affect upward mobility in the
market, however. It is anticipated, he says, that the current
optimism in the banking sector “will continue through the
balance of the year and that this will result in the market
remaining active, even if we are in a rising interest-rate cycle”.
Jawitz Properties Chief Executive Herschel Jawitz shares
Golding’s confidence in sustained growth. “The key driver behind
this shift” – favouring sellers and driving up prices – “has been
an increase in buyer interest and activity, but, more importantly,
a marked decrease in the number of houses for sale.
“With demand outstripping supply, property prices are
increasing at better than expected rates, and may even reach
double digits in 2014.”
As with the last few years, with buyers dictating price, Jawitz
believes sellers are tightening their grip on the market. This,
realtors seems to agree, is largely because of the current shortage
of stock.
Says Jawitz: “There are fewer distressed sellers and many who will
not sell until they have purchased other property, which only makes
the stock worse. Until this balances out, sellers will have the upper
hand.”
Jawitz qualifies his sentiments by quoting the la ѕ