South Africa’s Evolving Property Landscape

South Africa’s property landscape has changed significantly in the fifteen years Lightstone Property, a provider of comprehensive data, analytics and systems on property, has been operational.

Lightstone Property has captured the changing landscape in a report to celebrate the period, which began in 2009 after South Africa’s 2000-2006 housing boom (when house prices rose by an average of 20% each year), but more critically came after the global financial market crash of 2008/9.

Hayley Ivins-Downes, Managing Executive Real Estate at Lightstone said the SA market has not yet recovered to pre-crash levels. Four trends identified by Lightstone are indicative of a market which has mirrored the tough macro conditions of the period.

The four trends are:

• Sales volumes have fallen, while nominal values have increased.

• Returns on investment have been disappointing when Lightstone’s current values are adjusted for inflation.

• New buyers have not entered the market as would be expected.

• Younger buyers have not come into the market as would be expected.

Ivins-Downes said two other trends identified by Lightstone were creative responses to lifestyle changes, partly driven by cost-of-living pressure, “crime and grime” and the increasing numbers of people who can work remotely, a feature which accelerated during and after Covid:

• Demand has increased for Estates and Sectional Title properties

• Semigration has become an important feature, with the Western Cape the preferred choice for those moving from inland cities.

• Ivins-Downes said the report looks at the data behind the trends and opportunities that have emerged against a backdrop of political and economic events, and Lightstone’s response to meeting the increasingly sophisticated property market’s growing demand for products and services. “The demand for data and insights has led to the rapid expansion of Lightstone’s product range which has dealt with every conceivable aspect of the market.”

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