Most SA houses worth less than R500k

Johannesburg – More than half of South Africa’s six million residential properties registered in the Deeds Office are worth less than R500 000.

Currently, 3.5 million or 58% of these properties fall in the so-called affordable category – properties under R500 000 – 47% of which are in former townships. This emerged from new data from the Affordable Land and Housing Data Centre (al+hdc), which was announced on Wednesday.

This data centre is an initiative by the FinMark Trust, Urban LandMark, Lightstone and Eighty20. It is aimed at a comprehensive analysis of the market for affordable housing.

Although this market provides the overwhelming majority of accommodation in the country, it’s the market about which the least amount of information is available. The al+hdc is a database of properties in 2 400 residential areas, where the average property is worth under R500 000.

At current mortgage rates this housing would be affordable for households earning less than R16 000 a month – 88% of the country’s population.

This type of accommodation includes existing houses in former coloured, black and Indian townships, housing subsidised by the state, and new housing being developed by the private sector.

The affordable housing market is the market that is growing the fastest in terms of volume and value. More affordable homes worth less than R500 000 are being built each year than the more expensive houses.

Since 2004 an average of 70 000 new affordable units, including state-subsidised houses, have been registered at the Deeds Office per year, compared with 65 000 in the category of houses costing more than R500 000.

Although fewer new houses in the above-R500 000 market have been built since 2007, the figures have remained constant in the affordable housing market.

As far as housing finance is concerned, banks are very active in the affordable market – and the four big banks have taken the lead.

Absa has the biggest market share in terms of the number of mortgages granted to buyers in the affordable market, followed by Standard Bank, Nedbank and First National Bank (FNB).

But Standard Bank has the biggest market share based on the value of the properties, followed by Absa, Nedbank and FNB.

In all, 45% of properties worth between R250 000 and R500 000 in the affordable areas are financed by mortgages, compared with 63% of properties in the same price class in residential areas where the average price is above R500 000.

This article has been reprinted with the kind permission of Betterbond
Tel: 011 516 5500
Fax: 086 677 1162
Website: www.betterbond.co.za

Potential Restrictions to the use of your Property Purchased

Title Deed Restrictions

A property cannot be sold in contravention of a title deed restriction. For example,  a property developer registers restrictive conditions against the title deeds of erven within a development, restricting the use of each of the erven. For example, there could be limitations on design, house size and roof covers. This type of restriction is very common for golf estates and gated communities.

Guide Plans

A guide plan is a broad outline for determining land use patterns for the future development of a region er for industrial development, commercial development, residential establishment, farmland, recreational areas, etc
Urban Structure/Development Plans

The larger local authorities should each have a structure, development or policy plan specifying the land use patterns for an entire town or city, or parts thereof. It should set out where shops, offices and residential development can take place.

Town Planning Schemes

Every local authority has a town planning scheme, which is devised for the purpose of providing for the general welfare and attractiveness of the environment. The scheme should consist of both a scheme map and scheme clauses, which sets out limitations and controls for the usage of property in an area:

The above impacts the way the land may or may not be utilized. If you are purchasing your property with the intention of starting a business, a day care centre etc. You will need to find out whether or not you will be permitted to do so before concluding an offer to purchase to avoid being disappointed.

Removal of Restrictions

It is possible to have a title deed description removed in terms of the Removal of Restrictions Act 84 of 1967. Applications for the removal of title deed restrictions are normally dealt with on behalf of the property owner by an attorney or town planner.

Rezoning can be more involved and the success of an application depends on the following:

• The town planning scheme
• The structure/development plan
• The need for re-zoning
• The desirability of the rezoning
• The environmental impact of the rezoning
• The precedent set by the rezoning
• The opportunities/restrictions relating to the property
• Acceptability of proposal to adjacent residents and civic associations

A rezoning application generally takes around 6 to 12 months to be processed and involves the following steps:

• Preparation of motivation or application for rezoning by applicant
• Advertising of the application, calling for comments from the public
• Replying to comments and objections
• Consideration of application by the local town planning department
• Referral of the application if required to other town council departments
• Referral of the application to the council committee
• Referral to provincial authority on appeal

In conclusion, the variables in land use control are vast. If any questions or queries on land use are required, it is prudent to refer these to a professional; a town planner, the local municipality or an attorney.

This article has been reprinted with the kind permission of Masilo Freimond Inc.
Tel : 011 958 0488
Fax : 086 610 0276
E-mail : info@masiloincjhb.co.za

Buying Property Off-Plan in South Africa

Buying “off-plan” means you are purchasing your new home in a sectional title complex or cluster home scheme before it is built and will be depending on the developer and builder to complete your home properly and timeously.

Buying off-plan property has become a popular choice in South Africa. Property developers are keen to maximise on off-plan sales as an aid to financing a project. Buyers choose their properties from plans, elevations and computer graphics, and need to exercise their imaginations to envisage the end product.

When buying a property in South Africa off-plan, you need to do your homework and you need to be aware of potential pitfalls. There are many stories of buyers who bought property off-plan only to discover a variety of defects on the property once they had taken occupancy of the property.

Because most property you buy off-plan in South Africa will have appreciated in value by the time you take transfer, buying off-plan remains an attractive option. Buying property off-plan also saves the buyer on transfer duty and buyers are also given the freedom to choose their own fittings.

In most cases when you buy a property off-plan you will be shown an “artist’s impression” of what the property may look like. Always take into consideration that this is not a guarantee of what the property will look like, but is a visual possibility drawn up in the initial stages.

A reliable property developer will ask the buyer to draw up a list of defects on the property to be submitted within a certain time frame so that these may be attended to by the developer before occupation.

Some things to look for when drawing up a list of defects include:

• Straightness of the walls
• Light switches working
• Plugs in working order
• Scratches, cracks and marks
• Stove in working order
• Taps, shower, bath and plumbing are in working order

The first buyer of a new property is exempt from paying Transfer Duty which can offer savings on a property. Profits from off-plan properties can be free of capital gains tax if the property is sold before completion.

In order to maximise on profits through off-plan purchase it is essential to purchase early. The South African property market, as in many others, is experiencing a steady growth and prices never stay at the initial offer level for long.

There are plenty of ways to insure that you are protected under new housing laws. A few years ago the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act was introduced. Under this law the National Home Builders Registration Council was established to protect your interests.

This article was originally printed by Agent, the Official Publication of the Estate Agency Affairs Board

Validity of Property Sale Agreements

Once a property sales agreement has been signed, it is not necessarily cast in stone and can, in fact, be altered. People often panic when if they need to alter something in a document after signing. It is so that once the sale agreement has been completed and signed it becomes a binding contract; changes may be made, providing that they are done in writing and are signed by all the parties in order to be a valid binding.

But very important, also take note that any informal variation, for example a verbal agreement between the parties, will be null and void and the signed sale agreement will be taken to be the final agreement, because the variation was not recorded in writing.

Reasons for a change in sales agreements vary. Such reasons include a common mistake or recertification. Common mistakes are sometimes made by the parties involved in, therefore leaving the parties unsatisfied and results in the terms of the agreement not reflecting the intentions of the parties. Other reasons could be as a result of the parties that wish to rectify some of the material terms after signing.

If the sales agreement is amended by only one of the parties, this amendment would be null and void. All parties must be confident and in agreement with the alteration of terms, and consensus must be given.   

Provided that all alternations are signed where they are made on the agreement, by the parties, the amended agreement will be valid.

Healthy Green Lawns

Have a green, lush lawn simply by putting a bit of planning before putting in a lawn and pay attention to a few details in order for the grass to grow well and stay healthy. Everyone can do this.

If the grass around your home isn’t meeting your desires, don’t worry, because there are numerous reasons for this. A few of them, for example, are:

• The needs of your lawn have changed. Perhaps you didn’t have kids and now you do, so you had a lawn that liked low traffic, but now it gets tons of traffic, and the grass is not able to cope with it
• You may be trying to grow the wrong type of grass for your area
• Trees and shrubs have grown up, and your yard is now shady, rather than sunny.

Repairing Your Current Lawn

There are two ways you can repair an existing lawn: Over-seeding or Patching

Over-seeding
This is a great solution if your current lawn is more than 50% good grass and you would like it to be thicker, greener, and more vigorous. Simply reseeding it with a variety that is new and improved will help immensely.

Determine the Trouble Spots:

Take a look at the trouble spots and determine what may have caused the deterioration in the first place. Was it too much foot traffic? Shade, drought, disease? Once you have thought about this, choose an appropriate new grass for over-seeding.

For example: Select a shade-tolerant seed blend for shady lawns, or a blend that takes more foot traffic.

1. Mow your existing lawn as short as you can, almost to the point of scalping it
2. If your mower doesn’t have a bag, rake up the clippings. This helps expose the soil
3. Use a metal garden rake and scratch the soil as hard as you can to rough it up and create a good seedbed
4. Sow the seed at 2 to 3 times the recommended amount on the seed bag
5. Cover the seed with 1/4 inch (.64 cm) of topsoil or finely ground compost
6. Water every day to keep the seeds moist until they germinate – letting seeds dry out only once can reduce your germination rate greatly
7. Allow the seedlings to grow to 3 to 4 inches (7.6-10 cm) and then mow
8. When mowing, remove only 1/3 of the height; don’t cut it too short

Patching

This is the best solution if most of your lawn is looking great, and you have only a few trouble spots, such as a weedy patch or a bare spot. You won’t need to go to all the trouble of installing a new lawn, or over-seeding; just patch the problem spot.

As with over-seeding, it is best to first diagnose the problem before taking the next step, to determine what may have caused the deterioration in the first place. Is it a chronic spot, or a one- time accident, like spilling gasoline or bleach on the grass? If it is a chronic spot, take a look at what may be causing it.

• For spills, you’ll want to flush the soil thoroughly in order to leach out all the chemicals
• For a shady area, consider patching with shade loving grass blend
• For a compact area, aerate the area, add in some compost, mix into the soil and put down some gypsite to help the drainage

 

What Does a Ring Around the Sun Mean?

“A diffraction disc or Airy disc has similar appearance, but is a disk, rather than a ring, and has a red border on the inside. Its size depends on the size of the ice or water particles that cause it. These are also known as coronas, but are not to be confused with the thin streaming luminous gas that makes up the sun’s own corona.

NOAA Photo Library

In folklore, a ring (often called a halo) seen around the sun or the moon means precipitation (usually rain) is coming.

Cause

The ring is caused by sunlight or moonlight being diffracted as it passes through cirrostratus clouds that are usually at altitudes above 20,000 feet. Cirrostratus clouds are composed mostly of small ice crystals that spread out into a thin layer. They are sheet-like, and the sun and moon can be seen through them easily.

Types

Halos are most commonly seen as a white ring around the sun or moon, but sometimes they can appear as a rainbow-colored ring with red on the inside and going to blue-white on the outside. This is seen more often around the sun than around the moon.

Sizes

Halos most commonly form at a 22-degree radius. A more rare halo is the great halo, which forms at a 46-degree radius.

Good for Predicting Weather?

A ring around the sun or moon in the warmer months is a good, but not guaranteed, indication there might be precipitation within 12 to 24 hours. Cirrostratus clouds usually come before a warm front, which often brings precipitation.”

This article was originally printed by eHow Blog.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5232115_ring-around-sun-mean_.html#ixzz1411XElc3