FNB property barometer falls to 4,1

The FNB Property Barometer for the third quarter of 2008 declined to an average activity level of 4,1 – the lowest in the history of the Barometer – from a level of 4,4 in the second quarter, reflecting further weakening in demand activity levels as experienced by estate agents.

A further indication of the weakening trend is to be found in the average length of time that a home stays on the market before getting sold. From an average time of 14 weeks and 6 days in the second quarter, the average time frame shot to 20 weeks and 1 day in the most recent quarter, the survey, released on Monday, found.

50% Of home loans gets rejected last month

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%.