Property News - December 2006
Welcome to the third edition of the Portfolio Property Investments newsletter. We are pleased to announce the release of a new feature to our website, the bond calculator. Please feel free to try it out, as it is the 3rd of a series of property investment tools that we will be rolling out over the next months.
We would also like to draw your special attention to article 5 in this months newsletter. We are much impressed with the work of Knight Frank as they start to monitor and compare capital growth between one country and the next. This gives a very interesting perspective on just where in the world one should be investing.
Thanks and Enjoy
Portfolio Property Investments News Team
Articles
Inner City Savvy - Trafalgar report gives the inner city a big thumbs up
Durban's inner city had largely escaped the degeneration that has bedevilled Johannesburg and Cape Town, with rentals doubling over the past five years, and flagship developments such as uShaka and the Point precinct driving up property prices on the fringe of the central business district.
Economic Perspective Residential Property Market
House prices in the middle segment of the market increased by a nominal 13,8% y/y to about R818 300 in the third quarter of 2006 compared with the 14,7% y/y recorded in the second quarter. The 13,8% y/y increase was the lowest nominal growth in any quarter since the first quarter of 2002, when a growth rate of 13,7% was recorded.
National Credit Act The Impact on the Real Estate Industry
The National Credit Act is aimed at regulating the consumer credit market, principally by improving access to credit for those previously excluded. Only about 15% of the population are able to access credit from the main banks, at regulated interest rates. Lower income groups are usually relegated to non-bank credit and informal sector loans, often at exorbitant interest rates up to ten times that paid by the wealthiest income groups.
Living in South Africa - How Green is the Grass?
For many years a popular topic of conversation (or constant gripe) among us has been the number of citizens either emigrating or heading to the British Isles for work, and more recently the effort that is being made in an attempt to get them to return. But while many South Africans leave, immigration trends in recent years have noted an increase in the number of Brits and other foreigners heading to South Africa.
Global House Price Index Third Quarter 2006 results
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index is the first serious attempt to analyse pricing trends in residential property across the world on a standardised basis every quarter. Results for 32 countries are released today and are based on an assessment of price changes in the mainstream housing markets of each of the countries covered.
