August Shows Strong Property Price Growth and Higher Bank Approval Rates
August statistics released by ooba show positive year-on-year and month-on-month growth in property prices. The Average Purchase Price recorded by ooba in August was R982,297, which reflects a growth of 8.5% year-on-year, with a 4.8% increase month-on-month. The First-Time Buyer’s Purchase Price also yielded a strong year-on-year growth of 9.9% and a month-on-month growth of 3.1%. ooba’s latest statistics reflect that first-time buyers remain a key driver of the market, with 53.2% of ooba’s applications in August coming from this segment.
“The continued steady performance of the residential property market, despite weak economic fundamentals and upward pressure on interest rates, is good news,” says Rhys Dyer, CEO of ooba. “This indicates a market with improved supply and demand fundamentals, with many areas still reporting stock shortages.”
The Average Approved Bond size in August was R814,639 which is 5.8% higher year-on-year and 1.9% lower month-on-month. ooba’s August statistics show that homebuyers trended toward putting down higher deposits as a 15% year-on-year increase in the average deposit was recorded. “This correlates with the significantly lower year-on-year and month-on-month bank decline rates and illustrates the difference a meaningful deposit makes to securing a bond,” says Dyer.
ooba’s home loan approval rate in August remained high at 71.4%, indicating that the company continues to secure approval for more than seven out of ten home loans that it processes. This illustrates the benefits that ooba offers homebuyers by being able to submit their home loan applications to multiple lenders, ensuring a significantly better chance of a competitive bond approval, says Dyer.
“While the lending environment remains favourable, first time buyers and all buyers alike can benefit enormously from being pre-qualified for finance before putting in an offer on a property,” says Dyer. ooba’s expanded prequalification service, called oobaqualified, provides buyers with a network of highly skilled pre-qualification experts located around the country who will assist buyers to access their credit report, assess their credit standing, calculate their affordability, compile the relevant paperwork and, within 24 hours, provide them with a prequalified loan certificate.
“Being pre-qualified allows buyers to shop in the right price bracket with the confidence that in all likelihood, their bond will be approved. It makes sense for any prospective home buyer to get oobaqualified before they start to look– and this is a free service,” concludes Dyer.
