Week 3
Week 3
IN THE LOOP – WEEK 3
Property Industry:
- February’s registration value in the deed’s office to date is up by 25.48%
- The average bondable loans increased from R1,077,980 to R1,247,208
- Cash sales volumes increased from 4,805 to ,5,534 for February
- Q4 of 2020 saw the markets registrations increase by 21.3% by value vs Q4 2019
- Overall bank submission for March 2021 is up by over 60%
- Bank conversion rations continue to be under pressure as lending requirements become more firm
- MultiNET home loans set a new all-time record for the month of March 2021
Local & International Markets:
- The rand remains weaker at R14.93/$ (R14.91/$*)earlier this week
- EM currencies were largely down; the TRY (-2.0%), INR (-1.2%) and COP (-1.1%) were amongst the biggest losers
- Asian equity markets the Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are down
- Brent crude oil is up this week by 24.5% year-to-date
- The gold price is down this week by 11.4% year-to-date
- Brent crude oil is currently at $64.48/bbl; ($64.14/bbl*)
- Gold is at $1682/oz ($1685/oz*)
- SA CDS 243bps*, higher than Brazil 233bps* and lower than Turkey 487bps*
- Yields: US 10yr at 1.73%*, German bund at -0.286%* and SA 10-year generic at 9.87%*, SA’s R186 at 7.52%*
Covid Update
- Covid-19 global update: cases have surpassed 128.80 million, while the death toll has surpassed 2.81 million; recoveries are at 103.94 million
- Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 4.23 million; fatalities are at 112,781
- Morocco has 495,421 reported cases, Nigeria 162,762, Ghana 90,287, Kenya 132,646
- SA has the 17th highest caseload, at 1.546 million; 756 new cases were reported on Tuesday
- 251,707 healthcare workers have been vaccinated to date
- President Ramaphosa has announced the banning of alcohol and limited size of religious and social gatherings over Easter to prevent a holiday surge in cases
- Bars and restaurants will be able to sell alcoholic beverages but will be required to close at 11 pm
- Regarding the vaccine campaign, Ramaphosa noted that the 2nd phase will see vaccinations of the elderly and those with comorbidities begin in mid-May
- It was further noted that SA has secured 11 million doses of the J&J vaccine and is finalising a further order of 20 million doses
- SA will also acquire 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, expected in H2:21