HOUSING
Residential property slowdown offers buying opportunities
Residential property market has its worst run since the 2008-09 economic crisis
The SA residential property market is experiencing its worst run since the 2008-09 economic crisis. According to John Loos, household and property sector strategist at First National Bank, average house price growth has been declining for the past four years because of persistent weakness in the economy and little interest from potential buyers. He said there were no clear signs that there would be an improvement in 2018. Loos said his research showed that year to date, average national house price growth was 3.5% year on year. This meant the value of residential property was falling if inflation of 5% was taken into account. "The housing market needs to reflect the economy. GDP growth of 1% to 1.5% isn’t enough to get real growth in house prices, " he said. Average house price growth has suffered a steady decline since 2014, when it hit 7.9%. It fell to 6.1% in 2015, 5.8% in 2016 and 4.2% in 2017, Loos said. Another indicator of weakness was that the average time that a house was o...
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