(from Property Trader)

According to mortgage originator ooba, the average house price rose 6,8% year-on-year in June to R837 599 (from R784 427 in June 2009), and the outlook for the SA residential property market remains positive.

“House prices are continuing to increase, albeit at a slower pace than in the past few months,” says ooba CEO Saul Geffen “We have seen a sharp recovery in house prices during the first half of this year and we are still seeing an easing in lending criteria, which is good news for potential homebuyers and the property market in general."

The ooba statistics also show that as a percentage of purchase price, the average deposit paid by home buyers has dropped from 22,5% of the price to 17% in the past year, and that the average approved bond size has increased 14,3% yoy to R695 381.

Nevertheless, the average bond decline ratio is still sitting at just under half of all applications (48,8% in June), the originator says.

Follow up:

Meanwhile, the FNB House Price Index shows that house prices rose 12,6% yoy in June - or by 7,2% after adjusting for CPI inflation - but the bank's property strategist John Loos says there are signs that the pace of acceleration in year-on-year growth is starting to slow.

"While we would need a few more months’ worth of data points to confirm any trend change towards lower house price inflation, it is plausible that we are now approaching the peak in year-on-year growth,and that as the year moves on we will see a deceleration back towards single-digit year-on-year rates." he says.