29k per month for average SA home

Ok, so you buy a home in Bryanston (smallish) for 3.5 million. The payment is say R30 000 p/m. You and your wife and son/daugter each have a car. Dad BMW 320, Mom drives a Picasso, kid drives a Yaris. Car payments total about R12 000 p/m. Then its w& lights, DSTV, Adsl, furniture and food, clothes and University/school fees, add another R20 000 p/m. Total's at roughly R70 000 p/m. Mom and Dad are both working professionals. This is really average for North JHB. These families are not rich...they are k@king. In retrospect though, they earn roughly what lower middle class income earners earn in th US & UK so although its looks extreme..its pretty average. However!! Compared to US & UK, the 3,5 Million House in SA costs like 10 Million there, so any way you look at it your still better off here. The only bugger is if one of you looses your jobs...yep then its back to mayfair or jeppe hehehe (unless you have old money)
 
BTech said:
These families are not rich...they are k@king. In retrospect though, they earn roughly what lower middle class income earners earn in th US & UK so although its looks extreme..its pretty average. However!! Compared to US & UK, the 3,5 Million House in SA costs like 10 Million there, so any way you look at it your still better off here.
Click to expand...
Too general - it depends where you buy. When I sell up here the money I make will get me a nice place in the country which is just fine by me.

Oh - and I'll be safe. ;)
 
scatlett said:
Net worth means everything.


You can borrow against your net worth.
Click to expand...

I agree networth means a lot but I've friends owning houses worth R4m and they cant borrow anymore than the calculated allowance on their salaries which is a bit weird. The bank's just refuse for them to borrow against their worth.
 
Just to put the headline article into some perspective.

1. Your gross salary is used to determine affordability for bonds. So when they say you should be earning 29k, that is before any deductions.
2. The 29k is on the assumption of 25% of your gross combined household income, and not 30% as most home buyers are actually considered on
3. The average house price is much higher in security estates. Townhouses and complex dwellings (like duplexes, etc) are also higher than homes in traditional neighbourhoods.
4. Shop around, there are many houses in the outer lying places that are still under 600k.

Buying property is one of the best investments you can ever make. Be smart though, don't go signing an offer to purchase that 900k house that is barely bigger than 5 stacked shoeboxes. Buying for neighbourhood position is ONLY a good idea when you're buying a completely NEW house and/or you're buying at the beginning of the "boom" cycle.

I expect he next housing boom to be mid to late 2008.
 
R29k is waaaaaaaaayy outta my price bracket. The average PC Techie in pietermaritzburg earns +/- R1700 pcm. Scary thought.
 
My wife and myself were so lucky to buy when we did and go overseas at the right time otherwise we would be screwed by now.

We went over to the UK in 2001, the following year we bought a plot for R175000, paid it off in a year, sold it this year for R750 000. In 2003 we bought a house for R506 000, and rented it out and are now busy selling it again, long story if you read OT, for R999 000 with a bond of about R670 000 on it.

We bought another house this year from the profits of the plot and the R670 000 and have a paid off house, now just waiting for the other house to be sold so we can reap the profits.

Thanks to us going overseas, the market boom and wise investment we are where we are today, for which we are so grateful.
 
BTech said:
Total's at roughly R70 000 p/m. Mom and Dad are both working professionals. This is really average for North JHB. These families are not rich...they are k@king. In retrospect though, they earn roughly what lower middle class income earners earn in th US & UK so although its looks extreme..its pretty average.
Click to expand...

uh, R70,000 a month is lower middle class? Where, I'm going there! ;)

having lived in the US for over 20 years, I can tell you lower middle class is not earning $9,000 a month. It is more like $2-2.5 grand a month. The average salary is around 35,000 a year, meaning that if both parents work (not including daycare costs here) they bring home after taxes at the most 5,000 a month. But that is pushing it.

And most people in the US are a paycheck or two away from financial disaster. Look at healthcare and credit cards rates there. Very high.
 
PCM = Per Calendar Month (my guess at least)

Halicon I really like your idea, I agree buying is stupid rather rent from me and give me your hard earned money and end up with nothing after 5-10 years while I end up with your money and assets.... Spread the word

I always wondered why people rented instead of buying...
 
If you can afford to rent you can afford to buy, maybe not the same level of property but in 5 years time you can move up if you buy.

The deposit is no longer required by any major bank.
 
There are some advantages to renting. Not getting tied down to a long term investment is one. Buying is ofcourse the wise financial decision, if you believe propery rights will continue to be respected by government and that the country isn't walking the path of zim.
 
GavinMannion said:
If you can afford to rent you can afford to buy, maybe not the same level of property but in 5 years time you can move up if you buy.
Click to expand...

The average rent is what R4000 a month, so that about a R400 000 @ 10% interest rate which is pretty good....what can you get for that these days.
Even R5000 a month, is only R500 000.
 
GavinMannion said:
I always wondered why people rented instead of buying...
Click to expand...
Buying to live in is not currently the best investment. The house prices have to be growing fast enough to cover what it's costing you. You're better off renting and putting the extra money you would have been paying into a mortgage into other investments. If you bought 5 years ago your property will have recently rapidly increased in value, but prior to that your house was a bad investment - if you had sold any time prior to the boom you would have lost a significant amount of capital. If you buy a property and rent it out that can be a good investment.

Regularly buying something a bit bigger or better is a very bad idea. It is an extreme waste of capital.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X