Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa May 2014 | Page 10

PROPERTY ALERTS

Highlights in the property industry
The Good

Exchange controls and online credit card usage
The South African Reserve Bank has eased some of its exchange control
measures, especially around Customer Foreign Currency accounts (CFCs).
This provides a viable opportunity for corporates, which can now purchase
and hold currency in CFCs for up to 30 days before they are paid away
(one had to previously utilise foreign currency in the CFC account no later
than the following working day).
More good news is that global online shopping has been given a major
boost. The Reserve Bank has increased credit card usage limits from
R20 000 to R50 000 per transaction.
Offshore purchases are now considered imports and will not be included
in your yearly discretionary allowance. This means that the purchase of,
for example, an Apple Mac online, won’t count against your one million
rand allowance.

Pressure for both renters and landlords

The Bad

Because of a high demand for rental properties, tenants will run the risk
of agreeing to higher rentals, which they can’t afford in order to secure
a property, and with the growing cost of living, they ultimately start to
default on monthly payments. Landlords are not necessarily in a better
position in 2014.
Mpumalanga has topped the list when it comes to the most expensive
province to rent in. When industrial development meets limited rental
stock, rental values shoot up dramatically. This has been a recurrent theme
in the cases of Limpopo and the Northern Cape. Lephalale in Limpopo
holds the title of most expensive town to rent in, in South Africa.
There has been a marked increase in the national damage deposit ratio
from 123% in January 2013 to 134% in December 2013. Landlords are
now able to extract higher deposit levels than before due to the demand for
rental properties outstripping national demand.

The Ugly

Tenants' behaviour has gotten worse
It has been report