We caught up with some of SA’s finance heavyweights to speak about the state of the property industry.
“Consumers continue to experience financial strain. Growth in real household income and consumption expenditure remains low on the back of inflationary pressures and subdued employment growth, while the savings ratio does not show any significant improvement. In view of current trends in and prospects for the economy and the household sector, as well as recent trends in house price growth, continued single-digit nominal price growth is forecast for 2014.”
Jacques du Toit, property analyst at Absa Home Loans (Fin24: ‘House price growth still in single digits’)
“In the fourth quarter of 2013, the FNB Former Black Township House Price Index for the six major metro regions rose by 7.6% year-on-year. This growth was slightly higher than the consumer price index (CPI) and indicated a good balance between supply and demand.”
John Loos, FNB household and property sector strategist (Fin24: ‘Township property prices grow’)
“So we are not talking about finding additional funds from the fiscus to support whatever changes in benefits that Parliament might be discussing for themselves. Modesty is an important message to communicate to the public. I think we need to communicate to the public that we don’t have extra money to put into any of these exercises… Parliament will have to work within the kind of budget it has.”
Pravin Gordhan, Finance Minister (Fin24: ‘Gordhan: No money for govt perks’)
“The bank’s focus on economic growth has declined marginally to 2.6% in 2014, compared to 2.8% previously, while the focus for 2015 has been revised from 3.3% to 3.1%. The risks to this focus seem to be on the downside given the protracted strike in the private sector and electricity supply constraints.”
Gill Marcus, Reserve Bank Governor (SABC News: ‘Repo rate unchanged’)
