Johannesburg - A home is always a nest egg if one adopts a long-term view.

Even if house prices are currently falling, buyers who bought five or ten years ago will have seen sturdy nominal capital growth should they sell now.

But those who bought in the past two years and sell now will see no capital growth, reckons Jacques du Toit, senior property analyst at Absa's home loan division.

To illustrate the significant capital growth in the housing market since 2000, when the recent boom in the housing market began, he uses the example of a buyer who bought an average home for R250 000 in 2000.

From January 2000 to June this year such a buyer would have seen the price of his home rise a cumulative 269% to R924 633. If this buyer had sold the home in May last year, when nominal house prices reached their highest peak ever at R967 298, the cumulative increase would have been a stunning 286%.

This shows the importance of timing in achieving better capital yields.

Du Toit points out that, even if one takes into account the interest payments on R250 000, the buyer would still make a profit is he sold now. The average mortgage rate from January 2000 to June 2009 was 13.3%, and this would have amounted to an interest payment of R465 807. In other words,, the buyer paid a total price of R715 807 for his property if interest payments are taken into account.

If one considers that that house was worth R924 633 in June, his profit would be R208 826 if he sold now.

Du Toit explains that although a home loan comes at a price, it puts the consumer in a position to purchase his own asset. Few people are able to buy a house without mortgage finance.

Since the interest payments on bonds are relatively steep, homeowners can make significant savings in interest if they pay off their home loans as quickly as possible, thus shortening the term.