27% of Sellers opt for new Provinces in home purchases

A significant 27% of homeowners who sell and then buy a new home choose to do so in a different province, a notable increase from 16% in 2019.

Lightstone provider of data, analytics, and systems for property, and automotive and business assets, says these figures exclude other market segments, such as first-time buyers (FTBs), properties with multiple owners, sellers who don't purchase another home, and households buying again under a different spouse's name.

Sell-to-buy in a different province: 2018 – 2024

Hayley Ivins-Downes, Managing Executive Real Estate at Lightstone, said “in 2023, 50 000 homeowners participated in the sell-to-buy market. Gauteng and the Western Cape dominated this segment, accounting for 48% and 23% of transactions, respectively, totalling just over 70% of the market. The remaining seven provinces made up the balance”.

Sell-to-buy market in 2023 and 2024

Western Cape leads stay-at-home rankings

Ivins-Downes added, that “most sell-to-buy homeowners stay in the same province, although the proportion has dipped across eight of the country’s nine provinces when comparing 2018/9 to 2023/4, with just the Western Cape holding its ground (down to 87% from 89%)”.

Repeat buyers staying in the same province fell by 10% in Gauteng, 9% in the Eastern Cape and Free State, 13% in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, and 15% in Limpopo. Remaining in same province: 2023/2024 vs 2018/2019.

Remaining in same province: 2023/2024 vs 2018/2019

Value in the Western Cape

The Western Cape performs best in the sell-to-buy category when it comes to the value of properties. As the graph below shows, the Western Cape gets more than 65% of transactions in the R2m-R3m price band, more than 70% in the R3m-R4m and R4m-R5m price bands, and around 85% of properties above R5m in value. In fact, 70% of those moving to the Western Cape end up in higher-value properties.

Sell-to-buy price bands: % per province

Western Cape is the preferred provincial choice for semigrants

“The Western Cape is the preferred choice for those switching provinces, with the majority of its entrants (3 500) making the journey from Gauteng and 870 arriving from KwaZulu-Natal” said Ivins-Downes.

Around 1 600 homeowners from the six other provinces went to Gauteng, with a similar number going to the Western Cape.

When changing province – highest volume is from Gauteng to Western Cape

The towns in Western Cape that lead the semigration gains and losses table

If we look at towns and cities – not municipalities – we get a sense of where people are moving to, and from. The table below, which lists the 15 towns receiving the most semigrants and the 15 losing the most, tells a story of two parts: 10 towns in the Western Cape lead the way in attracting homeowners from other provinces, while on the other side of the table, 11 towns with the most homeowners leaving, are in Gauteng.

Older people are more likely to leave Gauteng; younger people stay

“Younger sell-to-buy homeowners tend to stay in Gauteng (80%) compared to older folk (60%), and of the elder buyers who leave, the Western Cape is the preferred destination. This is the pattern across other provinces too. Few homeowners leave the Western Cape,” Said Ivins-Downes.