Property market remains favourable

Ooba CEO Rhys Dyer, comments: "A few key statistics point towards a trend of ongoing growth. These include the continued rise in property purchase prices, higher bank approval rates, higher approved bond sizes, lower deposits and improved bank pricing."

The October oobarometer house price index revealed that the average house price rose 1.9% year-on-year to R953,018 from R935,252 a year earlier. Strong price growth in the first-time buyer's market was also recorded with a year-on-year increase of 7% from R711,691 to R761,653.

A new indicator has been included in the oobarometer, which is the average interest rate measured across ooba's population of approved home loans for the month under review. October's statistics reveal that the average interest on approved home loans was prime plus 0.46%, which is 0.07% lower than the 0.53% above prime measured in October last year.

There are also a number of indicators in the oobarometer that demonstrate banks improved appetite for extending credit for home loans. These include:

• Lower average deposits, down 27.6% year-on-year
  
• Higher approved bond size, up 6.9% year-on-year
  
• Higher total approval ratio of 74.1%
  
• Improved average interest rate of prime plus 0.46%

"Increased bank approval rates, lower deposit requirements and increased bond sizes are all factors that will continue to positively influence the property market," says Dyer. "With one of the highest approval rates in the market, ooba continues to prove that using a bond originator gives you a better chance of getting your home loan approved, in the shortest possible time at no additional cost."