‘All the people we speak to do believe that in 2024 we’re likely to see rate cuts of ideally somewhere between 50 basis points and 150bps. So I do think there will definitely be some respite next year as inflation reaches that mid peak,’ says Rhys Dyer, CEO of ooba Home Loans.
JEREMY MAGGS: A warm welcome and let’s start with this. The South African Reserve Bank [Sarb] announcing that the repo and prime lending rates will again be left unchanged at 8.25% and 11.75% respectively. Rhys Dyer, chief executive officer of ooba Home Loans, says attention should now be focused on rate cuts to ensure pressure on household finances and further motivate prospective home buyers in, what he terms, a sluggish economy.
So yeah, home ownership and I guess in some cases whether you’re renting or buying, some of those costs are certainly escalating and making just living in a home significantly more challenging than it was a few years ago.
JEREMY MAGGS: Rhys, is the stress across all sectors of the home market?
So whilst our overall numbers across the country are around about 10% of our applicants are people buying a property for investment, in the Western Cape that’s jumped up to about 35%.
So 35% of our applications in the Western Cape are people buying investment properties and that’s the highest it’s been I think ever in our 20-odd year history.
JEREMY MAGGS: And just a quick one, in conclusion, if you can look into your crystal ball, we’ve spoken about the resilience of the home loan market, are you able to look out 18 months, two years and give me a sense of where things might be, considering as we started this conversation with potential interest rate cuts, but also ongoing inflationary pressure?
Source: Moneyweb
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