Property Newsletter | May 2022
Residential property bounce back continues as foreign buyers keep faith in market
…but Affordable level needs a boost
South Africa’s residential market is rebounding in certain places and in specific price bands, and there are still pockets of opportunity for those who want to get into the market.
Foreign buyers keep faith in SA property
Foreign buyers have been a consistently strong segment of the market, and as our lead story – Foreign buyers keep faith in SA property – suggests, while they account of 3% of total transfer volumes in 2021, they paid on average 50% more for their properties than their South African counterparts. And the data suggests they are getting younger.
Overstrand travel, work and shopping patterns back to pre-Covid patterns
There is recovery too in Overstrand along the south Cape coast and in business parks and secondary CBDs. In Overstrand travel, work and shopping patterns back to pre-Covid patterns, an analysis of telemetry data devices installed in vehicles, with trips weighted to allow for results corresponding to the overall Car Parc (all registered vehicles within a defined geographic region), suggests Overstrand has been largely unaffected by the “work-from-home” culture shift prevalent elsewhere following the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.
Back-to-work benefitting business parks and secondary CBDs
In Back-to-work benefitting business parks and secondary CBDs, our analysis of aggregated and anonymised telemetry data in conjunction with business data to uncover levels of post-Covid recovery found that business parks and secondary CBDs are leading the post Covid-19 recovery in terms of activity, followed by industrial nodes, then primary CBDs and lastly mixed residential.
Turnaround needed for floundering affordable housing market
Another segment lagging the generally positive outlook is the Affordable segment. In Turnaround needed for floundering affordable housing market, we take a look at the falling sales in this important entry level category since 2008. Affordable transfers – defined as those under R500k – have plunged from 121,000 in 2008 to just 48 000 in 2021 – and suggest it is the poorer communities suffering most from the tough economic conditions. While it is an area of concern, if is also one of huge opportunity.
Quiet Easter 2022 on SA’s roads
Our final story, Quiet Easter 2022 on SA’s roads, perhaps reinforces the perception that consumers are consolidating rather than spending: South Africans travelled almost 100 million kilometres in passenger cars over Easter 2022, 25% down on Easter 2021 and 33% down on the total kilometres travelled over the comparable period in February and March of this year..
We hope you find the stories interesting!
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