ABSA June Residential Building Statistics June2013

Thank you Jacques du Toit from ABSA Home Loans for this great insight.

Residential building activity improving compared to a year ago
Residential building activity, i.e. the number and value of housing units for which building plans were approved and the number and value of housing units completed in the South
African market, improved further in April 2013. This is consistent with a continued improvement in the Bureau for Economic Research’s building confidence index in the
second quarter of 2013, which rose to its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2008.

The real value of plans approved for new residential buildings was up by 21,2% year-onyear
(y/y), or R1,74 billion, to R9,95 billion in the first four months of 2013 from R8,21
billion a year ago. The real value of residential buildings reported as completed was up by
12,6% y/y, or R808,15 million, to R7,2 billion in the period January to April from R6,39
billion in the corresponding period last year. These real values of residential building
activity are calculated at constant 2010 prices.

The number of building plans approved for new housing recorded growth of 43,5% y/y in
April, largely driven by the segment for flats and townhouses. This strong growth in April
contributed to growth of 14,7% y/y in plans approved in the first four months of the year.
The construction phase of new housing saw growth of 16,4% y/y in the first four months of
the year, influenced by growth of 35,1% y/y in the month of April. The segments of small
and larger-sized houses were mainly responsible for the strong growth in April.
Residential building activity will continue to reflect conditions with regard to the economy,
household finances, consumer confidence and factors impacting the market for new and
existing housing.

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Purchase Your Biggest Investment Ever With A List After Hearing The 2012 Budget

Thirteen Pertinent Points for your “To Do”List When Buying Property after the 2012 SA Budget Speech

·         First things first; create a needs analysis. Do you want a lock up and go scenario, or do you have a dog and cat or a family to consider? Write this at the top of your “to do” list when investing in property in 2012.

·         Location, location, location is all-important. This will affect how much you will be able to borrow from the bank, and this will also affect how much you will pay on your monthly insurance premium. Buy the cheapest house in the best area, and you will never go wrong.

·         Once you have heard what you are in store for in 2012 after hearing the 2012 budget speech, you might want to decide how to invest your money accordingly.

·         Perhaps you would like to go ahead anyway; although it is important to know how our money is going to be spent according to Pravin Gordhan,  it is also important to get into the housing market, and now seems to be as good a time as any, whether the budget bodes well or not.

·         When you go house-hunting keep your “to do” property shopping list with you at all times so that you do not lose focus.

·         When looking at location, it is also important to take into consideration where you work, and where you spend most of your social time.

·         Fine-tune your list all the time; your ideas might change, and especially so after hearing what the SA budget has in store for us.

·         If you are a first time home buyer then it might be a good idea to take someone older and wiser with you when looking for property, as wisdom comes with age and two heads are always better than one.

·         Be on the lookout for any pitfalls; as a first time buyer you might not be aware of these.

·         Shop around at different banking institutions and find out what the interests rates are. Even better wait for the SA budget and then make this decision based on those facts.

·         The professionals will be able to assist and guide you in the right direction; bond originators are experienced and would be in a position to shop around on your behalf, taking the leg-work out of this exercise.

·         Acquaintances and friends who have bought homes recently will have a good idea how to buy a home; why not ask their advice?

·         Always look for estate agents who have got the most ”sold” boards  in the area you are interested in; THESE are the ones who know the area best, which houses will be for sale. These agents will be the most professional and successful in the area.

Your best financial indicator for borrowing money to buy a home would be the 2012 budget speech, as this will be a good barometer on how our money is going to be spent in the next twelve month period. Hopefully Pravin Gordhan will make many positive changes in SA, so that everyone can benefit.

What do the experts say for 2012 for the Property Market?

So what do you think is happening in the property market in SA - is it paradise to come?

This is what the FNB property barometer looks like.  Download this now.

Recently, there has been some media discussion about whether the current time is the time to buy property, on the back of some assertions that residential property market “equilibrium” has been reached. It is surely safe to say that the residential property market has become more of a “buyers” market since early-2008, with prices having declined by around -17% in real terms since February of that year (“real prices” refer to average house prices adjusted for consumer price inflation).

But it is challenging to ascertain when a market has reached equilibrium, the price level where demand matches supply, especially as equilibrium levels fluctuate over time. Reaching equilibrium would imply that demand has finally caught up with supply after about 4 years in which the market could be deemed to have been oversupplied, a state which caused the downward real price correction in the market. Reaching equilibrium would also imply no further real price decline to come, unless of course further economic deterioration in the near term caused the market equilibrium price level to decline further, because price levels required to reach market equilibrium, or (otherwise put) market balance, do change over time as economic conditions change.

We believe that indications emanating from the latest results of the FNB Estate Agent Survey suggest  that the residential market still has some way to go before it reaches that “holy grail” where oversupplies disappear and the market can finally be said to be realistically priced and, yes, in equilibrium.

The first and foremost factor influencing our view is the fact that, according to the agents surveyed, the estimated average time that a home remains on the market before being sold rose for the 2nd successive quarter in the 4th quarter of 2011, from a previous 17 weeks and 2 days to 17 weeks and 6 days.

This would suggest that the imbalance between demand and supply has deteriorated further recently. The recent average time on the market remains far above the 2 month level, and even well-above 3 months, levels which we would deem necessary to reflect a market with a “healthy balance between supply and demand”. There has been a broad trend of increase (deterioration) in the average time on the market since early-2010, after something of an improvement in 2009 on the back of major interest rate cuts.

The second indicator of pricing realism, namely the estimated percentage of sellers being required to drop their asking price to make the sale, has also shown the resumption of a broadly rising trend from late-2010 through 2011, and currently hovers around 90% of total sellers. Whilst one would always expect a significant percentage of sellers to “open the bidding” on the high side, the current percentage would appear to be extremely high when looking back to the lower percentage of sellers dropping their asking prices in years prior to the 2008 recession. In addition, 2011 showed further increase in this percentage, which is not what one would expect to see in a market getting nearer to equilibrium and price realism. While an additional survey question, regarding the average estimated percentage drop in price by sellers being required to do so, has only been asked for 2 years, we have seen a mild increase in the average estimated price drop from -11% early in 2010 to -13% by the end of 2011.

Therefore, the sample of estate agents surveyed during the 4th quarter of 2011 would not appear to believe that the residential property is yet realistically price given the level of demand, or otherwise put, they appear to imply that the market is not yet in equilibrium or “balance between demand and supply”. Admittedly, the appropriate average time on the market is debatable, but we believe that above 17 weeks is inappropriately long. This, we believe, requires either further real house price decline, or alternatively residential demand needs to strengthen considerably to catch up with supply.

And at this stage, the agents aren’t pointing to a positive move in residential demand. A key question posed to estate agents in the survey is with regard to their perception of residential demand strength, done on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the strongest possible level. After a mild strengthening in the demand rating in the 3rd quarter of 2011 to 5.87, the 4th quarter (normally a seasonally stronger quarter) saw a mild decline to 5.66. In year-on-year terms this represents -2.2% decline on the 4^th quarter of 2010. Agents have not perceived demand to have made any meaningful progress in terms of strengthening, following a significant surge from mid-2009 to mid-2010. This shouldn’t be surprising, given that since late-2009, there has been very little further interest rate reduction, and little support from a very mediocre economy.

In terms of expectations of demand in the near term, the 4th quarter agent survey returned a weak response, with a very significant drop in the percentage of agents expecting demand to increase, from 44% in the previous quarter to 17% in the 4th quarter. This was the lowest percentage of respondents expecting strengthening since the 2nd quarter of 2005.

When asking agents for the factors influencing their near term expectations, seasonal factors play the most important role in this deterioration by far, because at the time of the 4th quarter survey in November, they were looking at 2 months of quiet time ahead as the holiday season approached. However, there are certain other negative factors that have are significant, including the perceived “strict credit environment,  “economic stress/general pessimism”, and still-unrealistic pricing by many sellers.

Also significant, is that only a few agents (7%) still see interest rate levels as still being a positive. The last rate cuts took place in 2010, and the stimulus from rate cuts has worn off.

In order to eliminate the strong influence of seasonal factors, we aggregate the results for near term expectations on a 4-quarter moving average basis, and the result is what we call the FNB Home Buying Confidence Indicator. The Indicator is on a scale of -1 to +1, with a -1 number assigned to a “weakening expectation” by an agent, a rating of zero to an “unchanged” expectation, and a +1 rating to a “strengthening” expectation. Here we see the 4th quarter Home Buying Confidence Indicator declining mildly on the previous quarter’s level, from 0.25 to 0.19.

The agents surveyed, therefore, appear to have become more pessimistic in their near term expectations, seasonal factors aside.

The Estate Agent Survey thus appears to support our opinion that further real house price (house prices adjusted for consumer price inflation) decline is required in the near term in order to shift the residential property market towards a balance between demand and supply or, otherwise put, equilibrium.

Therefore, at this stage, the residential property sector would be sensitive to any unwanted surprises in the form of an interest rate hike at this week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Reserve Bank. Fortunately, at this stage such an event seems unlikely, with the expectation that CPI inflation is nearing its peak, after which it is expected to decline back into the target range of 3%-6% without requiring help from interest rates at this stage

Dubai repossessed auctions

The Dubai Land Department has sold eight foreclosed properties at auction in the first bulk sale of repossessed homes in the emirate.

Location, location, location:

The sale may clear the way for lenders to offload millions of dirhams in repossessed property.

The homes sold between Dh740,000 (US$201,450) and Dh6 million, well above the minimum prices.

"It was good news to see the [foreclosure] process start to work like other jurisdictions," said Jody Glenn Waugh, a partner with Al Tamimi, a law firm.

Hundreds of properties are in the foreclosure process in Dubai but they have been slow to come up for auction, where sales are controlled by the Land Department. In May the department auctioned a repossessed villa in The Springs for Dh1.22m, the first and only sale of a foreclosed home under provisions of a mortgage law approved in 2008.

The sale came more than a year after the British bank Barclays won a court order to repossess the property. "Judgements have been flowing for some time now, but there have been delays getting the property to auction," Mr Waugh said.

Dubai's 2008 Mortgage Law No 14, was designed to speed up the foreclosure process, giving lenders a chance to recoup their losses on defaulted property.

Instead of going through civil court, under the new law lenders could execute a foreclosure through a simple hearing before a judge, after giving the client proper notification.

After the judge's order is issued, the property would be auctioned by the Land Department.

But the system has been slow to develop, industry executives say. In addition to the process for obtaining judgements, there were issues establishing values for property.

Some officials were concerned about flooding the market with low-priced homes at a time when prices are already 50 per cent below peak levels in some places, industry experts say.

The Land Department had previously tried to auction a handful of other properties, but they did not sell.
"Initially reserve prices were just too high and now they are far more realistic and as a result they are attracting buyers," said Richard Paul, the head of valuations for Cluttons.

International mortgages were raised for some of the properties.

The auction may prompt lenders to start more foreclosure proceedings. Banks and mortgage companies have been focusing more on renegotiating deals and using foreclosure as a last resort, industry analysts say.
"Ultimately [the auction] provides banks with more confidence that if the buyer defaults, they can go through the process," Mr Paul said.



Long-term, the auction process may also prod mortgage providers to provide more home loans in Dubai, where lenders are still wary.

"As the [foreclosure] system becomes more streamlined it will give lenders greater comfort to be more aggressive in lending," said Jean-Luc Desbois, the managing director of Home Matters Mortgage Consultants.

The Land Department staged three auctions last week with 19 properties for sale, including homes in non-freehold areas. The bulk of the eight repossessed properties sold were villas in the Al Thnnyah and Wadi Al Safa areas, plus two apartments in Dubai Marina, according to a sale brochure.
All the properties sold for more than the reserve price, with bidding brisk, said people who attended the auction. A villa in the Al Thnnyah neighbourhood listed at Dh3.5m sold for Dh5.6m.

"It was well attended," Mr Desbois said. "The place was full." But auctions are still rare in the UAE, he noted."Investors and buyers are becoming more aware of the ability to purchase property under auction," Mr Desbois said.

"It is a very new concept for the UAE."

Get a Home loan from??? BMW!!!!!

. buy your first home

. refinance your existing home

 switch

So now with the banks all in their own space then and now so...For many years, BMW Financial Services are a leader in vehicle finance, applying the same thoughts and smartness that goes into the production of every uber BMW to its financial solutions. This extensive experience in vehicle finance has smoothed the road to offering homeloans.

BMW Home Loan offers a range of decent and flexible, competitive options to suit different needs.

They also offer access facilities, further loans, repayment breaks, home owner's insurance and debt consolidation.

• So whats what here!
• Purchasing a new or existing property.
• Switching current Home Loan facility from another institution.
  Registration costs and valuation fees may be covered
• Switching current Home Loan facility from another institution and at the same time registering a higher loan amount.
• Building a new property.
• Purchasing a property off-plan from a developer.
• Additions and improvements to current property.

Just contact your financial man or women and they will assist.

All kinds of finance magic is available for you!

What are the banks offering foreigners and non-residents today!

If you are a non - resident and looking for finance, mortgage or home-loan and buying a property or investing in South Africa, whats sort of financial resources is available to you today! So do you feel like a foreigner?

You will always need to transfer some money from your country to South Africa, either as  deposit or for your monthly mortgage payments, however that can be done free of transfer fees and need not be an expensive project.

So what do the lenders offer and this includes, ABSA, Nedbank, FNB and Standard Bank and even SA Homeloans.

So firstly non-resident clients living and working abroad.  50% maximum and then only from ABSA, Standard Bank and FNB.

Non-resident Clients with SA Work Permits

FNB - 50% loan Max
ABSA - 70% loan Max
Nedbank - 80% loan Max if you are a Nedbank client
Standard Bank - 90% if not a client and 100% if you are a client

However, you will need

1. To have a clear credit record and if you do not know what your status is please get a copy of your credit report today.  This will save you hours of heartbreak.

Ensure your required documents are up to date - so bank statements are less than a week old, clear to read - otherwise the banks will reject them and if you are self employed have at least 2 to 3 years audited and signed financials available.

Of course , use a bond or mortgage originator always - they know who offers what and remain objective.

Credit Decision for Self Employed People

So what do banks look at when offering a home loan - firstly it is your repayment ability especially the financial position and strength of balance sheet, asset base of the business and the individual and of course the equity.

The there are the actual needs or amount required and providing the bank with the purpose of funds for a home, Holiday house etc.

Credit managers want to know everything about the business income focus being on how income is generated by client and the source of the income and sustainability thereof.

Minimum documents needed are - The latest 2 year signed comparative financial statements. - Signed and dated statement of personal assets and liabilities - Latest 3 months personal & business bank statements. - Where latest financial statements are not available, the latest set of management accounts required. - Kredit inform and ITC or Experien credit checks will be done on company and individuals and the business documents are required to confirm all principles & interest holding.

This is the same for all banks with slight variations whether you go to ABSA, Std Bank, FNB or Nedbank.

Why you need to motivate your home loan application.

Well it is quite simple.  A motivation is usually provided to highlight or explain anything about your homeloan application that falls outside what would be considered a “normal” application, or even when it you feel it necessary for the bank to have a clearer understanding about you the prospective client and your situation.

For example, if you have finished or are finishing your monthly car repayments now, or in a couple of months’ time, it is important to supply this information in the home loan motivation with the necessary proof to establish the your true and realistic affordability.

Another example may be if you are  a rehabilitated insolvent. In this instance it is necessary to supply a full explanation regarding the circumstances that resulted in the insolvency as well as a copy of the certificate of rehabilitation and a copy of the final liquidation and distribution statement reflecting details of all of your creditors. A mortgage origination consultant would, however, use a motivation whenever they feel it is necessary to highlight positive attributes about the you as their client and the property and to remove any negative attributes such as past adverse credit score and sentiment.

Property Marketshare per bank - changing times

So Std Bank up to 36% - up to 100% loans

FNB maintains 23% approx - up to 100% loans


ABSA drops to 19% - up to 70% loans

Nedbank drops to 12,5% - up to 90% loans

SA Homeloans Climbs to 10% - up to 100% loans

Well what a change from a year ago - you can get a homeloan through a good mortgage originator.

Time to move as rates are bound to come down.

PRIME + Standard Bank and FNB interest on homeloans status

So the banks have definitely changed their risk profiles and increased the premiums on rates following the article recently released by FNB.


Now we learnt through reliable sources that Standrad bank have increased their risk rating under certain circumstances.

For those applying for a home loan and are self employed expect a rate plus 0.3%.  If a small holding or plot expect anything from an extra 1.5% to 2.5% and if a Business Mortgage expect an additional 1.5% on top of the normal rate.

Defintely time to use your favourite bond originator.

we expect the other banks to follow suite shortly.


  thanks to our news feeders for the thumbs up guys.......

World property review Easter 2011

So here the mortgage and home loans and financial view from various world property market players - as an Easter gift for you.

RISK AVERSION

Well the Japanese Tsunami and earthquake and subsequent nuclear leakage has raised fears of a de-accleration in global growth.

Higer oil prices leading to global inflation is being fuelled by turmoil in the MENA (Middle east and African) environments.

Greece, Ireland and Portugal continue to lead the way in credit rating downgrades and the propect of defaulting on debt payment is imminent - leading to Global European pressures.

However, world markets have amazingly ongoing signs of recovery - so we await mid year results all round.

TRAVEL OVERSEAS

It is possible to buy youir money at commercial rates and not get ripped off with expensive changes as you move along so getting your currency need not be expensive or a hassle. The First Premier Travel card through GCEN is now available to you.

An INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGE PERSPECTIVE 2011:

The average we have seen a 12.8% increase in interest rates over the last month, based on the cheapest mortgage products on offer within our top 5 most popular countries. Spain has seen the biggest rise with mortgage rates now being offered from 2.68%, which is a whopping 42% increase from what was on offer last month. France has seen the second biggest rise (16.76%) with mortgages now available from 2.09%. With mounting pressure on both the Bank of England (BOE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates we believe further rises will follow, but when and by how much are unfortunately key questions that nobody can answer with much certainty. However we continue to recommend to our clients who are thinking about buying or remortgaging a property abroad to consider acting now in order to secure these still relatively low mortgage rates while they are still available.

For more details on these exciting new mortgages please contact us.


Although mortgages are still available for foreign property buyers in Ireland we are unsure how long they will continue to be available due to the continuing banking crisis. Since the failed bail out from the International Monetary Fund last year, Ireland has still not resolved its banking problems, following an outflow of deposits and other banks being unwilling to lend to them. Currently many Irish mortgage providers remain dependent on the central bank for their day-to-day operations and until Ireland's new government has managed to conclude its talks with the ECB to secure medium-term funding for its banks, the decision on whether Irish banks will continue to lend to foreign property buyers remains unclear


In South Africa, you can get 100% home loans but conditions do apply and the credit criteria for lending remains strict.  Non-south africans can still obtain 50% mortgages.


8th Islamic Financial Services Board Summit


The summit is being held in Luxembourg 10th to 13th May 2011 and is a must for all financiers working with Islamic Financing.


Three events will precede the Summit, a Workshop on Islamic Finance and IFSB Standards for Institutions Offering Islamic Financial Services and Islamic Capital Markets, IFSB Country Showcases and Special Session on Liquidity Management in the Islamic Financial Services Industry which the IFSB is organising on 10 May 2011 and 11 May 2011 respectively. Luxembourg and Malaysia will be showcasing in the Country Showcases.




A core aim of the Summit is also to highlight the role of the various stakeholders towards developing a robust future for the IFSI. This is reflected in the five session topics of the Summit which cover:


• International Developments in Regulatory Landscape: Implications for Islamic Finance


• Financial Stability: Regional and Global Cooperation


• Developing Capacity Building to Enhance Financial Stability in the Islamic Financial Services Industry


• Enhancing Transparency and Market Discipline and Information Environment


so all good here!!!!!!

EUROPEAN and  GCC PROPERTY REVEALS....

FRANCE:- Earlier this week (12th April 2011) French minister Francois Baron said that the French government aims to raise the threshold for households that have to pay wealth tax (ISF). Under the proposed reforms the threshold for households for the wealth tax would rise to those with assets of more than €1.3 million compared with the current rate of €800,000.

CYPRESS:-  Scottish Member of the European Parliament Alyn Smith has warned people not to buy property in Cyprus after floods of his constituents complained at being stung by the title deeds fiasco in the country.


SPAIN:- An economist at the University of Barcelona has warned that Spain’s house price correction still has a long way to go before the country’s property market can fully recover. Economics professor García Montalvo uses reported house price and income data to calculate price to income ratios which currently stand at 6.4, way above the historical average of 4 years.

DUBAI:- Nearly 200 foreclosure cases are being currently dealt by Dubai Courts and the rate and frequency is likely to increase, top law firms believe. “Most of the conventional banks have claims and we understand that there may well be around 200 foreclosure cases coming through the courts at the moment,” Michael Dark, Senior Legal Consultant, Dispute Resolution, Hadef and Partners, told Emirates 24/7

Your Home Loan and your Credit record

A home loan is a loan that makes the dreams of people to have a private dwelling of their own in a quicker and easier way. So if you are you looking for a home loan then you have come to right website.



I know you have your own fears when it comes to a home loan application and there are things you need to know before even signing an offer to purchases to avoid disappointments.


The very first the thing is to know your credit record.


This is very crucial in a home loan application, slow payments reduces your credit score and affects your credit record.


Your credit score is a number calculated from factors such as the amount of credit outstanding versus how much you owe, your past ability to pay all your bills on time, how long you've had credit, types of credit used and number of inquiries.


Some may argue and say I was late by one day but that will certainly reflect as a late payment and its one thing you must never do as one day it might cost you your dream home and affect your credit record and credit score.


Then comes adverse and judgments, what effect do they have on your home loan application? A judgment against you is the result of you losing a case in court. Usually, a creditor goes to court to get a judgment against you for the amount of the debt you owe.


Well with that, the first impression the creditor gets of you is you are a high risk client and your chances of you not paying back a very high there by reducing your chances of getting a home loan. The consequence of a negative credit rating is typically a reduction in the likelihood that a lender will approve your home loan application for credit under favorable terms, if at all.


Interest rates on home loans are significantly affected by credit score and credit history; the higher the credit rating, lower the interest while the lower the credit rating, the higher the interest. The increased interest is used to offset the higher rate of default within the low credit rating group of individuals.


Then next thing is affordability, know how much you qualify for.


Unfortunately banks no longer do pre qualification on home loans but that does not mean you won’t be able to beforehand. Apply here for an affordability qualification for you. and we will take you through the process of your personal home loan application.

L your mortgage consultants.....