Consumer Financial Wellness Portal

It really is a double whammy kind of situation for consumers getting that bond approved these days.

As consumers we are feeling the pinch in as far as our financial situation goes trying to meet all those debt obligations. This is getting to the point where even if you had budgeted “correctly” a year ago, you most likely will find yourself in the redline if not over exposed. On the other hand the credit granting law has changed requiring banks to consider “true affordability” and no gestimates when assessing whether to grant a mortgage / home loan.

A good source for tracking the extent of these effects is First National Bank’s Property Barometer report, published quarterly.

FNB recently published the 2007 second quarter review, so if you were wondering how the property professionals feel about the market. I suggest you check it out.
To bring a few things to your attention:

Activity of the real estate agents has dropped from 6.7 Q1 2007 to 4.96 Q2 2007 on a scale of 10.

Just over 70 percent of the houses on the market have sold for less than asking price, post NCA.

The average time it takes to sell a house is 10 weeks

For the investors, only 15 percent of the houses where for bought-to-let

Though 77 percent of the professionals remain positive in their Q3 2007 outlook

Click here to obtain a copy of the FNB Residential Property Barometer or download directly from here. If you prefer the telephone, call the FNB Property Barometer Hotline on 0860 476 877 to speak to a Property Consultant.
The one question in my mind is how long the interest rates will continue with this upward trend. Kindly comment below with your views…