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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 - The higher-priced residential
areas appear to be keeping their status as the leader in the property cycle,
FNB said on Wednesday.
According to the bank the sequence still appeared to be holding,
suggesting that the higher-priced end will enter into rising average price
inflation first.
It is possible that the Top 10% of areas were less affected by the
economic slowdown, as one finds more accumulated savings and wealth among
higher-income households to cushion the blow in recessionary times, whereas
areas lower down the price ladder are often characterised by households with
low savings, causing greater financial stress in bad times.
The FNB Property Barometer survey has consistently pointed towards a
greater percentage of "selling in order to downscale due to financial
pressure" in low income areas as opposed to higher up the ladder.
On top of this the tightening up of banks with regard to lending
criteria in 2008 possible hampered middle and lower end demand, often a
haven for first-time buyers, to a greater extent due to a lack of ability to
put down deposits for home loans in many cases.
The converse holds true, though, in that the recent relaxing of credit
criteria should benefit these segments more than the top 10%, and so with a
lag, one should expect the more affordable side of the market to follow the
higher priced end upward.
- I-Net Bridge