22 July - Interest Rate Announcement 22 July 2010 Herschel Jawitz CE of Jawitz Properties says that the decision not to cut interest rates was expected and should not have any impact on the recovery of the residential market. Interest rates are at a lower enough level to provide an impetus for the market to gradually recover. With the prime rate at 9.5% most people are now borrowing at single digit rates which are meaningful from an affordability point of view. What is needed more than a drop in rates, is for the banks to continue to ease their lending requirements and for consumer confidence to improve especially at the upper and luxury end of the market. The lower to middle markets which are most interest rate sensitive (up and down) are still finding the going, with the banks, tough. This will continue to provide a challenge for a quicker recovery in property prices and volumes. On the luxury end, consumer confidence is the key. People have to feel good about what they are reading and hearing before they will think about spending R10m on a house.