News for property market good and bad
The knock-on effect of the Covid-19 lockdown is affecting many sectors of the South African economy. The housing market is feeling the pinch with a lot of uncertainty around how this sector will perform post lockdown.
Lowveld realtors have been hard hit by the closure of the Deeds Office and loss of income as a result of non payment of commission.
Vaughan Bonini, owner of ERA Lowveld, said, “The Deeds Office has been closed since March 27 and is reopening during the course of this week, albeit on skeleton staff.
This means that in the month of April no registrations could be effected. Agents’ commission is only payable on date of registration of the property in the name of the purchaser.”
Bonini added that agents had zero income in April as a result of zero registrations.
“When the Deeds Office opens this week, there will be a considerable backlog. This means that agents’ cashflow may remain under pressure.”
Protea Properties managing director and owner, Lizl Pretorius, echoed similar sentiments. “The commercial rental market was extremely slow.
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Agents earn commission only, and are seen as contract workers by government. Therefore, when applying for so called help schemes, we are at the very back of the line.”
“Tech-savy agents are selling properties online, signing deals subject to viewing and bond originators are doing prequals. The lowered interest rate, is like a carrot being swayed in front of buyers, who should indeed buy if they can.”
But there may be a silver lining. “Residential property is a basic need. A roof over your head is second only to food,” Bonini said.
Pretorius added,”This can be the big break to buy a property at a lesser bond repayment rate than you would normally pay on rent.”
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