Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Property Ladder - a monthly newsletter designed to keep you up to date with all the latest news regarding the property market.
In this issue we look at selling your home, interest rates and mortgage repayments. With the excitement of the new spring season in the air -gardening is at the top of eveyones to do list - We bring you 10 top tips for successful herb gardening. Don't Forget to visit the website periodically as we will continue to update throughout the month with more news and views.

We invite you to interact with us - If at any time you would like to make a comment regarding the site, or perhaps share an experience with other visitors, simply send us an email at propertyladder@multinetgroup.co.za. If you are involved in the market professionally and have a story to tell or would like to submit a press release - Please feel free to send them along too.

Kind regards
Multinet Property

Pretoria - Three out of four residential properties are now being sold for less than the asking price and the average time a home remains on the market before it is sold has increased from eight to 10 weeks.

Jan Kleynhans, the chief executive of First National Bank (FNB) Home Loans, yesterday attributed changes in the market predominantly to the implementation of the National Credit Act in June and the cumulative effect of interest rate hikes over the past year.

Market activity is now at its lowest level since the inception of the FNB Property Barometer survey in 2003.

The percentage of properties being sold at less than the asking price is at its highest since the inception of the survey.

Kleynhans said properties in the upper-priced segments continued to feel the pinch, with 81 percent selling for less than the asking price, compared with the national average of 76 percent.

For the first time, the very active sentiment in the market was non-existent, while the not very active sentiment had increased from 9 percent to 22 percent in the first two quarters of this year.

In addition, the proportion of first-time buyers entering the market had steadily declined from 32 percent in the middle of 2005 to only 16 percent in the second quarter of this year.

The number of investors buying homes to let has decreased significantly from about 27 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 to only 12 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Despite these negative trends, estate agents have a positive outlook for the next quarter.

But John Loos, a property strategist at FNB Commercial Banking, believed the negatives influencing the market - the implementation of the credit law, rising interest rates, the slowing global and domestic economy, and a lack of further transfer duty relief - would feed into the housing market for some time.

"I think the market is on its way downwards until the first half of 2008. But it will be a soft landing. This year is probably going to be the worst year of the decade for the residential property market."

The FNB barometer is a quarterly review of the residential property market based on the perceptions and forecasts of 150 estate agents in the major metropolitan areas.

Kleynhans said first-time buyers were generally affected by affordability. The combination of the credit law and the recent interest rate hike had curtailed activity in this segment because of stringent affordability assessments and qualifying criteria.

Overall, 43 percent of estate agents claimed applicants were struggling to qualify for home loans, he said. In the lower-priced segment, 67 percent claimed that qualification and affordability were "significant hurdles".

Kleynhans said agents believe the credit act was good for the economy, but were concerned about its effect on their business. Agents operating in the lower priced segment were particularly worried.

He said the speed at which home loan deals were finalised had slowed down, but estate agents were optimistic that the stumbling blocks with the credit law would be short-lived.

Business Report August 14, 2007

Plans in pipeline for high-rise blocks in posh neighbourhoods

One of the biggest urban-planning changes in the city of Joburg's history is looming, with spacious suburbs possibly having to make way for giant apartment and office blocks.

The plans, already preliminarily passed at a council meeting, will see:

• Sections of the posh suburbs of Inanda, Sandhurst, Parkmore and Morningside turned into business districts;
• The elimination of suburbs such as Melrose, Dunkeld and Atholl and their transformation into high-rise office and apartment blocks;
• The erection of 20- storey, mixed-use office and residential blocks in Rosebank and Sandton;
• The expansion of the Sandton CBD to include the suburb of Atholl;
• The expansion of business nodes in most parts of northern Joburg;
• Permission granted to developers to build high-rise buildings along Oxford and Rivonia roads; and
• A significant increase in building density in areas such as Parktown North and Killarney.

The plans, tabled in three proposals before the Joburg council late last month, under the Urban Development Framework document, have been put in place to ensure the success of Gautrain and the city's R2-billion Bus Rapid Transport System.

The documents contain the council's vision for Sandton, Rosebank and Marlboro, all of which will have Gautrain stations. The plans, which were passed by the council, will now be subject to a public-participation process at a council sitting on July 26.

Property experts are describing the plans as "major" and "inevitable". Developer and investor Patrick Flanagan said it would "alleviate traffic congestion, as mixed-used developments reduce residents' reliance on cars".

He added: " Before emotion comes into it, people who own properties in these areas should clearly understand what is proposed. "People must ... be very mature in understanding what this is in terms of overall town-planning."

But not everybody shares Flanagan's view. Rosebank ward councillor Ian Ollis accused the city of alerting developers to the plans before residents got to look at them. Some of his Dunkeld constituents, he claimed, had already received visits from developers on "shopping sprees" for property in the area. "Before we even knew about the plans, developers were already knocking on doors with offers to buy houses," he said.

On Wednesday, officials from the city's planning department met with councillors of affected areas to brief them on the process. The councillors called for intense involvement by residents.

The Urban Development Framework also calls for the business districts of Rosebank, Marlboro and Sandton to be extended to include Melrose, Dunkeld, Parkmore and parts of Illovo, Sandhurst and Alexandra. Also on the cards are high- rise buildings near Gautrain stations, as well as a 10-storey average for buildings in Rosebank, with those close to the Gautrain station allowed to be higher.

The document recommended an even higher building density than did the five-year Integrated Development Plan mooted earlier this year, which sparked an uproar and will no longer be applied. The Urban Development Framework document states that council plans to allow high-rise buildings up to a 15-minute walk away from Gautrain stations. Property economist Francois Viruly said this would not necessarily cause a decrease in property prices in affected neighbourhoods.

Council spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said: "I don't want to comment on the details of the current proposals because it might change after the public-participation process."

  eProp Research, 12-08-2007

It is time to get active in the herb garden. The garden centres are full of lush and healthy plants that are just begging to be taken home. But there is nothing more disappointing than buying a healthy plant and after a few weeks it turns up its toes and dies. They say failure is good for us, but success is nicer. Here are 10 tips from Bouquet Garni’s Di-Di Hoffman to set you up for a successful herb season: