It’s an excellent time to buy property. The lending rate is at its lowest in about 50 years, house prices have declined in real terms and there’s more stock on the market than there are qualified buyers. But are you ready to buy?
“While a homeowner will incur additional costs, such as rates and taxes, a straight comparison of bond repayments with the monthly rental suggests that owning a home may actually be more cost effective. Also, the benefits of owning an appreciating asset that serves as a long-term investment far outweigh paying off someone else’s bond each month with rental payments,” Coetzee says.
BetterBond’s average approved bond size is just under R1m, suggesting that the bulk of sales activity is at the lower end of the market. Almost 45% of BetterBond’s formal grants for July year-to-date were in the R500,000-R1m price range, followed by 19% for homes between R1m and R1.5m. Berry Everitt, CEO of Chas Everitt, says that over the next few months the market will present “the best purchase opportunities seen in more than a decade”.