Perhaps you should think before you spew any further nonsense. House Price Inflation is a measure of how house prices have increased - not how they will increase. I suggest you actually study economics before wanting to be a reserve bank expert. Further to my previous point, there is a property slow down where many experts have on numerous occassions remarked that the current property market is poised on a knife edge and that property prices are in fact expected to fall.I shot down your advice because it's rubbish.
As for tax implications - it all boils down to whether Frankie is a South African citizen or not -and more importantly, where he/she resides - and as to whether he or she has actually declared their offshore monies. Any income into an account should be declared to SARS in any event.
Firstly, I think you will note that I quite clearly stated that I "
do not for one minute profess to be a reserve bank expert". And for interests sake I did study economics and still try to keep my knowledge up to date.
However, all of this aside, once you stop bickering about the terminology I used you may come to realise that what I said is still valid. Call it what you want but houses should not actually lose value over time. Yes, the rate at which the value grows may slow as it has done in the current climate.
Now let's look at a scenario : The OP does not pay off his property and it does not grow in value (as you seem to have a problem with me insinuating that it may). He will still be paying it off as well as paying interest at 12.5% per annum guaranteed (at the moment, of course this will go down when interest rates start going down). So effectively he is becoming
12.5% worse off every year (to reiterate this is assuming his capital value on the house does not increase and not factoring in the real value of his worth ie ignoring inflation).
On the other hand he has this money sitting in a UK bank earning him what sort of interest? If it is anywhere near the 12.5% then fair enough.
Now we also seem to be ignoring the fact that he is swaying heavily towards leaving and has not made definite plans. If he were to stay here for 10 years would he not not be better off bringing that money in now while the rand is relatively weak (again we cannot predict if it will weaken further or strengthen but we do now where it stands currently) and settling that debt?
As regards bringing that money back you are adamant that he would be mad to do so because of the tax implications but in your infinite wisdom you have still failed to give an idea as to what these would be. I see you do now eventually, after some prompting make mention of the fact that a few more details will be needed to ascertain this but you failed to do so before attacking me. It could be inheritance, it could be drug money, it could be money that was declared during the amnesty... we don't know, yet you attack me.
As for your reference to experts predicting movements in the property market, many experts are also concerned about the well being of banks in the
US and UK at the moment but you failed to allude to that...
EDIT : And out of interest even if he were not to pay off the bond now, how will it be beneficial to him if your prediction of house prices falling comes true? He would still have a bond to settle when he leaves and even less equity in the propety as he has been paying interest for two years and very little capital. Did you actually think this through or just attack?
