February was a good month for sales of residential property in the wider western and north-western Johannesburg areas, RE/MAX estate agents said on Tuesday.

The agency recorded 33 sales in February in the price range of R335 000 for a one bedroom older apartment in Florida to a R2.9-million luxury home in upmarket Florida Hills, said RE/MAX's Gavin Bouwer.

"All transactions, which included two other apartments of R400 000 each, involved some form of cash deposit with five of the sales being concluded for cash," Bouwer said.

The agency's average selling price for February, at just under R1-million, was higher than earlier months. However, Bouwer said he was uncertain of the market's future stability as banks were 'still blowing cold on lending'.

Bouwer said that early March sales returns already suggested a leaner month.

This was in spite of no shortage of potential buyers still trawling the market particularly in the 'blue collar' lower price ranges where prices, he said, had now settled around those of about two years ago.

In the upper price range, above R2-million, homes were being discounted by some 10 percent on 2007 prices, he added.

Buyer interest remained high, price-focused and mainly in response to print media and internet advertising with show houses having lost much of their traditional appeal and attracting poor attendances.

Bouwer said his staff was showing homes to financially able buyers, but their attitude towards signing offers was largely cautious.

"It could be from uncertainty over the depth or unknown length of the recession or just hanging on for further rate cuts, or even prospects of bargain buys, but there's no shortage of buyer interest from all racial groups, just of their willingness to commit."

Tight lending, high interest rates and the extensive media coverage given to the general recessionary conditions, Bouwer said, had seen sellers change their attitudes towards realistic asking prices and negotiability. He gave the example of a February seller who accepted an offer of R1.35-million on his asking price of R1.5-million, but when the financing on the deal failed he quickly agreed to a lower offer of R1.2-million.

Emigration remained a distant second reason to that of selling for financial reasons, Bouwer said.

Against the confused mix of general market conditions, he advised those home owners who did not have to sell to wait for an improvement which he expected on the back of lower interest rates.

He also anticipated more stable lending from the banks, which he classified as 'pretty erratic' in terms of deposit requirements.