Entry-level residential property median prices (R665,372) grew 2.5% year on year (y/y), while prices of medium-sized (R1,669,052) residential property prices grew 6.4% y/y in August and the median prices of small residential properties (R1,026,873) grew by 3.3% y/y. Consumers see themselves through the pandemic and the economic pressures of 2019, but overall consumers seem to be meeting their debt requirements regularly now that the economy has opened up. Despite the mild reflation in recent months, the overall residential property price growth remains below inflation, as has been the case for most of the last decade.
Despite the pandemic, industry-wide data shows bourgeoning home buying activity, with the volume of mortgage applications reaching multi-year highs. Year-to-date, applications volumes are approximately 9% above the same period in 2019. However, approvals lag as lenders apply caution amid an uncertain economic outlook, only outpacing 2019 levels by approximately 1.5% year-to date. With the opening of the Deeds Office registrations are catching up to last year figures, stabilizing the recovery, and as of September year to date application volumes are up 23% y/y. The approval rate for July 2020 continued to increase from 54.19% to 55.89%. Freehold residential property prices by comparison grew by 5.5% y/y in August following a peak in April at 9.7%. Prices have since gradually moderated but freehold property still posted a cumulative growth of 2.9% since January 2020.