Quoting Nicholas Nkosi, head of affordable housing at Standard Bank, Mail & Guardian says that the growth in the market for loans in this sector has been "phenomenal".
Moreover, Lightstone Property reported that houses in the mid-value sector of between R250 000 and R700 000 showed growth of 6,6% in October last year.
Nkosi says that at the top end of the affordable housing spectrum, clients would qualify for a bond of R550 000, which would buy them a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house of about 45 square metres on a 200 square metre plot of land.
Meanwhile, Business Live quotes bond originator, ooba as saying that it had recorded "significant growth" in home loan applications in May among first-time home-buyers who were "very active".
Saul Geffen, head of ooba says the company's figures indicated that the rand value of ooba's home loan approvals showed a year-on-year increase of 50% in May and was the company's best monthly performance since April 2008.
He says that May's approvals were 221% up on the company's lowest approvals month of January 2009 and 36% higher than figures for April this year.
Geffen says it appears that financial institutions are easing their lending criteria "slightly" resulting in the higher approvals ratio.
Read the full article on http://mg.co.za.
Read the full article on www.businesslive.co.za.
