The Stokvel Media has for the past three years, published a successful quarterly magazine targeting stokvels called Stokvel Times.

We will soon be adding three products to our stable, the Township Property magazine, the Stokvel Times website and the Township Property magazine.

Our content is informative, educational and interesting. It will include stories on trends in the sale of property in the township and infrastructure development; environmental matters, legislation regarding housing delivery and infrastructure development, etc.

With the interest rates rising, some people may wonder why we are talking to the property market at this time. The answer is easy; according to the Township Residential Property Markets research, July 2004, one fifth of South Africa’s households live in the former black townships in housing worth an estimated R68 billion.

The Financial Services Charter has put specific lending targets for the low income market between the state and the largest retail banks.

In response, the banks have launched new mortgage products aimed directly at first time buyers in the low-income market. The minimum income required for a for a mortgage was reduced to as low as R1 500 with minimum mortgage sizes set at R20 000, informal income sources were recognised subject to some form of verification and credit vetting processes were adjusted to ensure that more borrowers would qualify for loans.

With the Financial Services Charter in place, the property boom is far from over in the townships.