Actual house prices are growing very slowly – at less than 4 per cent year on year. First-time buyers continue to dominate the market – more than 50 per cent of bond applications are from first time buyers. These trends are according to bond originator ooba most recent statistics – for October 2012.
The banks are now also approving more bond applications. ooba is currently obtaining approval for seven out of every 10 home loan applications it receives.
Saul Geffen, ooba CEO says house prices for first-time buyers grew marginally to just under R650 000. He adds that the dominance of first time buyers has focussed the market on smaller more affordable properties.
Banks are becoming more lenient. Smaller deposits are being required, while the average loan size is growing. In October the average home loan deposit dropped to 13.5% of the purchase price and the average approved bond size increased 11.8% to R739 340.
ooba’s approval rate, which is the overall percentage of loans approved once ooba has shopped around at all banks was 0ver 70 per cent in October. The percentage of applications that are declined by one bank but approved by another was nearly 25 per cent.