Chairperson’s Welcome
Vuyiswa Ramokgopa
Dear Members, Stakeholders, Practitioners, and Industry Affiliates
As the year draws to a close, we look back on significant challenges – we’ve had 300 days of load-shedding, entered into a costly rate hiking cycle, food inflation reached 8.7% in October, the JHB CBD has been rocked by blasts, building fires and the greater Gauteng area by water shortages. We’re gearing up for an election year, which will be crucial.
As the real estate industry, we are neither immune to these factors nor the pressure they exert.
The Repo Rate
The industry, and indeed South Africans in general, breathed a sigh of relief as the Reserve Bank left the repo rate unchanged at 8.25%, meaning that the current prime lending rate remains at 11.75%.
Since the interest rate hiking cycle started in November 2021, the Monetary Policy Committee has hiked the repo rate ten times by accumulative 425 basis points and reached a 14-year-high at 8.25% earlier this year.
Rhys Dyer, CEO of ooba Home Loans says there are clear signs that we may have reached the top of the rate hike cycle. “We still anticipate an interest rate reduction mid-2024.” He adds, “While a rate hold is welcomed, urgent intervention is needed to re-stimulate homebuying activity in a contracting market environment.”
