The FNB housing price index contracted by 3.7% year-on-year as of June 2019 compared to the 2% contraction experienced during the same period in 2018.
The market and research manager at FNB Ruusa Nandago said the poor showing in the index is the worst performance recorded since 2009.
Nandago also said that the poor performance comes on the back of price contractions across all the 14 regions in the country.
“The contraction brings the average national house price at the end of June 2019 to N$1 066 908, which is similar to the mean price recorded in February 2016,” she noted in the FNB Residential Property Report.
The slowing activity and declining prices in the property market, Nandago said, reflect weak demand and a deteriorating outlook with regards to the state of the overall economy. We thus expect property prices to show little growth as risks to the economy remains tilted to the downside.
The only growth recorded at the end of June, Nandago said, was in the small housing segment where 27,4% year-on-year was realised.
“While this is an improvement from the growth of 17.4% recorded over the same period last year, we have noted that growth in transaction volumes has been decelerating over the course of the year,” she further said.
