“The unchanged repo rate allows growth in property selling prices to consolidate across the country, but particularly in the Cape, where in spite of hikes earlier this year, revenue figures show that real estate is still a buoyant and desired commodity,” says Mike Greeff, CEO of Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate.
“Propstats shows that the year-on-year increase in the average selling price across all areas of the Cape for the period October 2015 to November 2016 is 14,4 %. This far exceeds the national average,” says Greeff.
He says that the areas which experienced the highest growth in average selling prices are City Bowl at 18% and the South East Suburbs at 16.6 “The figures are for all property types,” adds Greeff.
He says that Constantiaberg showed good growth for investors in all types of properties with an increase of 8.4% in the average selling price.
“False Bay represents a growing investment sector with an increase of 7.6% in the average selling price over the past twelve months,” says Greeff.
Hout Bay and the Southern Suburbs continue to hold their own; According to Propstats the average selling price in Hout Bay across all property types showed a 7.1% increase, while Southern Suburbs grew by 6% across all property types. “Sectional title properties in the Southern Suburbs deserve a special mention; over the past twelve months these showed a very healthy growth of 16.5% in the average selling price,” says Greeff.
“While banks are granting bonds, criteria are still tough to avoid irresponsible lending and consumers are feeling the pinch, but the figures indicate that investors continue to place their confidence in Cape real estate,” reports Greeff.
He says that the unchanged repo rate is welcomed by the property industry and those repaying home loans will benefit in the short term, but hikes may well be on the horizon and should be planned for.
