The decision by the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to cut interest rates by 25 basis points has been welcomed by High Street Auction Co director, Greg Dart.

This move – along with the setting of a new inflation target of 3% and an optimistic 2025 Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in Parliament last week – will conclude the year positively and set the stage for growth in 2026, he says. 

Dart believes that, although not a large drop on its own, the interest rate cut will continue to build upon the gains that have accumulated since the Reserve Bank started cutting interest rates in September 2024. With cuts now reaching the 150-basis-point mark, he believes this could continue to have a positive impact on the entire property sector. 

This is highlighted by current forecasts of real GDP growth of 1.2 per cent for 2025 (more than double that of 2024) and a moderately positive medium-term outlook, with GDP expected to grow by an average of 1.8 per cent between 2026 and 2028.

The new 3% inflation band is expected to lock in lower interest rates over time. However, Dart believes that, with inflation expected to remain above this at 3.5% during December 2025 and even climb slightly higher as start-of-year service increases kick in, there might be an interim halt in rate cuts at least until mid-2026. 

Nevertheless, he states that the positive sentiment in the auction sector reflects the growing optimism among property brokers, as highlighted in First National Bank’s Property Sales Activity Survey for the third quarter of 2025. 

“As our economy continues to recover following structural reforms and as promised infrastructure projects start to materialise, we are confident that activity within the property and auction sectors will persist and that several attractive deals will be seized by a pool of enthusiastic investors who will recognise increasing opportunities ahead,” he says.