CAPE TOWN (January 25) –
Be-devilled by eight interest rate rises and the uncertainty shrouding a further hike at next Friday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting has prompted a warning from industry pundits for a cautious approach to the market. Main concern centres around purchasers locking themselves into long-term debt with little room for financially maneuvering around further rate increases, which is a possibility as the Reserve Bank struggles to rein in an already well above target current rate of inflation.
However, while there is a need for caution the current well-stocked market could favour focused on good value, particularly if they utilise the services of leading real estate professionals.
According to Jeanne van Jaarsveldt, Marketing and Finance Director of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, “speculations of a global economic slow-down, even the possibility of a recession, has driven consumer confidence to a state of caution and a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the property market”.This month, the median house price index issued by a leading South African bank, showed that price growth in residential property had come to a grinding halt at the end of 2007.Additionally, Eskom’s power supply woes will lead to a decline in new property developments. While this may lead to developers seeking eco-friendly ways to build homes, says Van Jaarsveldt, it will not underpin consumer confidence levels.
He adds that this factor, plus dollar-rand exchange rate pressure and the substantial trade deficit in the South African economy, will likely prevent Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni from issuing another interest rate hike at the upcoming Monetary Policy Meeting.Van Jaarsveldt continues: “This year will become an even stronger buyers’ market than we anticipated in 2007, and crucially we will continue to see property prices sell between 10 percent and 15 % below the original asking price for properties listed towards the end of 2007.
“Consumers in a rush to sell should list at 10% below of what they hoped to achieve in December last year. “The good news is that it is a great time for first time home-buyers to enter the market, with the unique balance of affordability and strong value making this foray into real estate a brilliant proposition.”
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Inspiration
"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." Zig Ziglar
Coco Chanel grew up in an orphanage, and her humble beginnings gave her the determination to succeed.
At the orphanage she learnt the importance of immaculate sewing and later made a fortune selling her simple, classic, easy-to-wear designs.
A top designer for over 50 years, even after her death her success continues through the House of Chanel.
The start of 2008 can also be the start of your new life.
What are you waiting for? Go out and grab it!
"There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time." Coco Chanel
Thursday, January 17, 2008
External bond consultants / lead generators needed - no experience required
Commission only
Any area in SA
Stable company
All documents and training provided
Marketing support provided
Please send your CV to vania@bondapply.com.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Credit chickens coming home to roost
2008 is going to be a busy year for the credit regulator.Geoff Candy14 Jan 2008 11:26
The cumulative four percentage point increase in interest rates since June 2006, seems hefty when one considers that South Africans, as a nation, owe R834bn to a variety of credit providers.
And, 2008 could well be the year when the credit extension chickens come home to roost.
According to Gabriel Davel, the National Credit Regulator, there will definitely be some fall out from the recent interest rate hikes as there is no doubt that people have overextended themselves.
"But," he adds, "It will not be like the crisis we saw during the early parts of the decade with Saambou and Unifer, people are much more cautious now."
Davel says most of the debt South Africans have accumulated is in the form of home loans and vehicle finance arrangements and these will generally be ok; rather it is in the area of credit cards and store cards that the big fallout will occur.
"There will probably be a number of retailers that will burn their fingers.
And, part of the role the National Credit Regulator plans to play in the coming year is to ensure that the amount of credit offered by retailers decreases.
"There is still too much hard selling in the market and that is one of our priorities for 2008," he says.
One of the other focus areas for 2008 and is the establishment of the debt counseling structures.
Since the Act came into effect in June 2007, 173 debt counselors have been approved and certified, while a further 70 have been approved and are awaiting certification.
Since June, 2 876 cases have been put under debt counseling, while 140 have been rejected - the primary reason being that the clients are not actually overindebted.
What has surprised the NCR is the sort of people that are applying for debt counseling. "There are a large number of people whose debts are R1m and up and who are now in a desperate position. Typically they are people already with a mortgage that have bought two cars, two credit cards and 5 or 6 high value store accounts."
According to Davel, there are surprisingly few people from the low income group that have so far applied for debt counseling, but this could also be because so far the debt counseling roll out has been primarily in urban areas.
Davel says, the current number of people under debt counseling is tiny compared to the 16m person credit market, but he adds that this number will continue to rise in 2008.Asked what to expect in 2008, Davel says, "On the first day of January, we had 200 calls and more than 80% needed debt counseling, it's going to be a busy year."
The cumulative four percentage point increase in interest rates since June 2006, seems hefty when one considers that South Africans, as a nation, owe R834bn to a variety of credit providers.
And, 2008 could well be the year when the credit extension chickens come home to roost.
According to Gabriel Davel, the National Credit Regulator, there will definitely be some fall out from the recent interest rate hikes as there is no doubt that people have overextended themselves.
"But," he adds, "It will not be like the crisis we saw during the early parts of the decade with Saambou and Unifer, people are much more cautious now."
Davel says most of the debt South Africans have accumulated is in the form of home loans and vehicle finance arrangements and these will generally be ok; rather it is in the area of credit cards and store cards that the big fallout will occur.
"There will probably be a number of retailers that will burn their fingers.
And, part of the role the National Credit Regulator plans to play in the coming year is to ensure that the amount of credit offered by retailers decreases.
"There is still too much hard selling in the market and that is one of our priorities for 2008," he says.
One of the other focus areas for 2008 and is the establishment of the debt counseling structures.
Since the Act came into effect in June 2007, 173 debt counselors have been approved and certified, while a further 70 have been approved and are awaiting certification.
Since June, 2 876 cases have been put under debt counseling, while 140 have been rejected - the primary reason being that the clients are not actually overindebted.
What has surprised the NCR is the sort of people that are applying for debt counseling. "There are a large number of people whose debts are R1m and up and who are now in a desperate position. Typically they are people already with a mortgage that have bought two cars, two credit cards and 5 or 6 high value store accounts."
According to Davel, there are surprisingly few people from the low income group that have so far applied for debt counseling, but this could also be because so far the debt counseling roll out has been primarily in urban areas.
Davel says, the current number of people under debt counseling is tiny compared to the 16m person credit market, but he adds that this number will continue to rise in 2008.Asked what to expect in 2008, Davel says, "On the first day of January, we had 200 calls and more than 80% needed debt counseling, it's going to be a busy year."
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Our deepest fear - Nelson Mandela
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
The above quote by Nelson Mandela was originally written by Marianne Williamson who is the author of other similar material.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Man in the Arena - Theodore Roosevelt
"It is not the critic who counts:
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly,
who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly,
who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,
but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
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