Between January 2004 and March 2007 the large banks in South Africa granted 156 900 mortgages to low-income households (households that earn no more than R8600 per month). (Unaudited data from the Banking Association)

This week’s theme: Housing and housing finance

23% of homeowners (aged 21+) have heard the phrase ‘mortgage loan’ and know what it means. 40% have heard the phrase ‘interest rate’ and know what it means. (FinScopeTM 2006)

This week’s theme: Housing and housing finance

28% of homeowners (aged 21+) agree with the statement ‘You think of your home as an investment that will grow in value’. 48% disagree and a further 24% don’t know, don’t understand or have never thought about this. (FinScopeTM 2006)

This week’s theme: Housing and housing finance

926 000 households (7.1% of the total) have some form of housing finance (they own their dwellings but have not yet paid them off). 9.6% of households say they receive a government housing subsidy. (GHS 2006)

This week’s theme: Housing and housing finance

There are 12.97 million households in South Africa. 8.28 million (64%) say they own and have fully paid off their dwellings. (GHS 2006)

This week’s theme: Housing and housing finance

56% of black urban parents say that their children insist on certain brands of clothes. For whites the proportion is 42%. (PeopleScape 2006)

This week’s theme: Clothing retailers in South Africa II

36% of urban black South African adults say they sometimes buy expensive designer clothes, a proportion higher than for any other population group (albeit by a small margin). (PeopleScape 2006)

This week’s theme: Clothing retailers in South Africa II

36% of South African adults say they would rather buy one really expensive item of clothing or shoes than a lot of cheaper things. (FutureFact2006)

This week’s theme: Clothing retailers in South Africa II

2.1 million South African adults purchased sports clothing in the last 3 months. Almost 40% of them haven’t participated in any sport at all in the past 12 months. (AMPS2006A)

This week’s theme: Clothing retailers in South Africa II

5.9 million South African adults purchased women’s underwear at various clothing stores in the last 3 months. 10% of them were men. (AMPS2006A)

This week’s theme: Clothing retailers in South Africa II