SA Homeloan & Property Blog

It seems like getting you home loan accepted in South Africa has just became much more difficult! Certain factors that contributes to this is of course the rising interest rates and the National credit act.

Bond Originator, ooba said that over 50% of the home loan applications were rejected by the banks last month (June 2008), up from just over 40% of applications made last year.

One should keep in mind that, while some applications gets rejected by certain banks, other banks does accept it sometimes. So it doesn’t mean that when one bank declines your application, other banks will not.

At the moment it looks like only FNB and Nedbank are still granting some 100% loans with other banks requiring deposits of between 10% and 20%.

It has been reported that South Africa is still the 10^th best performing property market in the world. Last year, when South Africa was the sixth biggest property rising market in the world, it was at a rise of 13,6%. This year, we are placed, number 10 in the world with a property market rise of 8,8%.

However, South Africa’s is not the only country which has shown a decrease in inflation rising. Apparently some of the countries also mentioned here include the likes of the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway.

Global house price inflation came to an average 6,1% in first quarter 2008, down from 9,8% last year.

A small white lie in real estate loan application constitutes mortgage fraud, and it’s certainly a big concern and with increasing fraudulent document registration by lenders, brokers or borrowers it becomes essential for both parties to escape themselves from going to be the next victim of mortgage fraud. False assess of the value of the property to inflate the lending amount or any kind of misrepresentations regarding income or employments are some common ones.

Taking a hard look of the incomplete mortgage loan, any penalty provisions, hidden cost, need of credit insurance, direct contact with lenders for deal verification or transaction are certain things that needs to be carefully considered prior to the execution of the mortgage deal.

South African consumers should brace themselves for possibly the toughest time in 10 years — and economists warn that it is likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Nine successive rate hikes, soaring fuel, food, electricity and water prices have taken their toll on a broad sweep of society — from the poorest to middle-class property owners, and even small businesses. Read more »

ABSA customers are now able to fix their Monthly Home Loan Repayment for up to 10 years.

The impact of rising interest rates is starting to have a marked effect on disposable income and confidence levels amongst home buyers this feature goes a long way in addressing this issues. Customers now have the ability to plan ahead for the next ten years. Read more »

You want to invest in property and also be able to say that you own your own house. But lately this is looking very difficult (almost impossible), specially for the younger generation. So how can we get into the property market with interest rates as high as it is now?

The best way to go at the moment is to take a look at the houses that has been in the market for a few weeks. Usually after about 5 weeks, these home owners starts dropping their price, just to get it sold. It is human to get impatient and make irrational decisions, so keep an eye out for these specials! Read more »

Now, you want to get a home loan but you don’t know which documents to send to your lender or bond originator. This is also important as you want to get the process started as soon as possible and to do that, you will have to send the correct documents. Here is what your lender (bond originator) will need from you:

Read more »

Cash-strapped homeowners should consider extending their mortgage repayment period from the conventional 20 to 30 years, a move that could translate into a R620/month saving on an R1m loan.

Banks and mortgage originators have in recent weeks started to encourage homeowners to take this route before they start falling into arrears and potentially lose their homes. Read more »

Tito Mboweni announced an interest rate hike of 0.5%. With the previous interest rate already on 14,5% we are now standing at 15%.

This increase will certainly place a lot of pressure under most of the South African, middle class home owners. A lot of the South African home owners are already struggling to make their bond repayments. Now, with the interest rates this high one can only wonder if some of them are still going to be able to keep their home. Read more »