Car repossessions have risen by up to 20 percent year on year. But losing your 4x4 is nothing compared with the crunch when your home is repossessed. Remax has predicted that up to 17 percent of South Africans could lose their homes this year.
17 percent!!! Considering that their are an estimated 44 million South Africans, that means 7 480 000 South Africans will lose their homes in 2008.
If you consider that the current US mortgage crisis is estimated to cause 2 million households to go into foreclosure and that means about 7.2 million Americans (3.6 Americans per household). However the American population is around 200 million and so roughly 3.6% of the population is affected.
I really hope that 17% number is wrong. Very very wrong because if it's right there's a lot of pain coming.
3 comments:
kinda wrong I think, it assumes that evey household has a mortgage, right? Don't think so, majority of South Africans live in poverty [in a shack]
I sincerely hope it's wrong, but most shack dwellers don't have mortgages so they shouldn't lose their homes when interest rates go up. I also don't think Remax concerns itself with the bottom end of the market.
Even if it's 17% of mortgage payers it's still a very big number and one that has serious ramifications.
It is very alarming! Would like to know how many home owners there are to start with the get a better idea of what 17% really equates to? No doubt still a very alarming figure!
Question:
-How will the banks' balance sheets look in the wake of this?? (anything like the US, major write offs)?
-Kind of get the impression that estate agents are either gonna have to wash cars or flock to the auctioneering business... anyone agree?
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