Property Brief - August 2023

After the decline of Q2 2020, induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, property market activity rebounded healthily, buoyed by a strong dose of pent-up demand. The number of BetterBond home loan applications then remained well above the levels of pre-pandemic Q1 2020, largely due to the lowering of interest rates by the Reserve Bank. In only seven months (Dec 2019 – June 2020), the prime interest rate dropped from 10% to 7%, stimulating tremendous homebuying activity. Interest rates then started rising in late-2021. Prime has gone from 7% in Nov 2021 to 11.75% in May 2023, not conducive to residential homebuying.