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House sales up, prices wilt
TOM HOOD ON PROPERTY House sales up, prices wilt House prices in the Western Cape wilted in August from the squeeze of higher interest rates and the new National Credit Act and in spite of a higher volume of sales. After years of steady monthly growth, prices dropped in 11 out of 13 areas. The average house price slipped below the R2million mark for the first time this year to R1 942 000, which was 15% below the July average of R2 291 000, believed to be an all-time record. But prices were still 18% up on the R1 645 000 average of August last year. The new trend is revealed in the latest Residential Property Price Ranger (RPPR). Only Hout Bay and the Boland reported higher house prices in August, but the increases were less than 1% up on July’s. The RPPR analysis noted lower prices in the Atlantic Seaboard, Bellville/Durbanville, the City Bowl, Constantiaberg, False Bay, Oostenberg, Overberg, Parow/Goodwood, South East Suburbs, Southern Suburbs and West Coast. According to the banks, monthly mortgage bond repayments are now 30% higher than a year ago - a discouragement for buyers. However, more houses (554) were sold than in July (502) though not as many as the 613 in August last year. Significantly, house sellers had lowered their asking prices to an average R2 075 000, almost 20% below the July figure of R2 482 000, and possibly as a result sales were only 6.4% below asking prices. In July buyers were able to cut advertised prices by 7.7%. In August last year, the difference was 6.9%. The lower asking prices saw houses selling in an average of 66 days, against 79 days in July and 71 days a year ago. In the West Coast, the biggest selling area, 172 houses were sold against 94 in July and 92 a year ago. The August average of R1 385 000 was little changed from July’s R1 390 000 but almost 10% up on the year-ago R1 251 000. Almost R1million was lopped off the average house price on the Atlantic Seaboard to R4 785 000 in August. In July the average was R5 759 999 and R3 801 000 in August a year ago. More sectional title properties, mainly flats, changed hands in August. There were 356 sales, up from 269 in July but below the 458 sold a year ago. Average prices rose almost 10% from R1 121 000 in July to R1 245 000 in August. The difference between asking and selling prices was only 3.9%. In July it was 4.4%. Flats were also selling faster - taking 62 days in August against 69 in July. However, a year ago flats sold in an average of only 48 days. The total value of all residential property sold in August was R1 675million, up 4.2% on total sales of R1 607million in July and 5.3% ahead of the R1 590million of sales in August last year. For the first eight months of 2007, 8611 residential properties were sold, down 10% on the 9538 sales in the same period last year. Despite the drop, higher prices pushed the total value of sales for the eight months to R14 391million, up 16% on the eight-month figure of R12 419million for 2006. |