Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - Consumers are weighed down by debt and it will take some time before credit extension again shows strong growth.
From the latest Absa Home Loans report on household mortgage it appears that the ratio of debt to disposable income for the first quarter remained at 78.4%.
In May mortgage advance growth slowed down even further.
Loans for commercial and residential property increased 3.4% year on year in May, compared with a 3.6% increase in April. This was despite the signifiant decline in lending rates from 15.5% 18 months ago to the current 10%.
In the first quarter of this year the ratio of outstanding mortgage debt to disposable income was 47.8%, slightly lower than the 48.8% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Even though the debt ratio has levelled off, most households are no better off, says Jacques du Toit, senior property analyst at Absa Home Loans.
In May the cost of paying off mortgage debt was nevertheless the lowest since late 2006, thanks to a 3.6% rise in nominal household disposable income and a mere 1.5% increase in mortgage indebtedness.
- Sake24.com
For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com