House prices increase moderately

September saw moderate growth in house prices says bond originator ooba. The average house price for September was R876,717 up 4.5% year on year and 4.9% month on month.


First time buyer statistics showed moderate growth too. The average purchase price for first-time buyers was up 6.7% from R619,920 in September 2011 to R661,159 in September this year. Month on month there was a 0.2% growth in the average purchase price for first-time buyers.


“The September numbers reinforce the recent trend of continued marginal price growth, underpinned by increasing levels of activity and new entrants into the market," says Saul Geffen, CEO of ooba. “We expect the short-term trend to continue in this vein.”


The average home loan deposit increased by 4.7% from R142,885 in September to R156,172 in September 2012, which is 17.8% of the purchase price. Month on month, the average home loan deposit increased by 56.1%. “The large month on month increase in the average home loan deposit is largely due to recent changes in banking lending policies particularly favouring loans with at least a 10% or more deposit,” says Geffen.


Ooba added that the initial decline ratio increased 2.1% to 48% in September. However, the percentage of applications that are declined by one bank but approved by another improved by 4.9% to 27.4 % in September this year according to the bond originator.