South Africa’s residential real estate market is the largest component of the South African property market, comprising most property assets within the country. Despite the economic and political turmoil faced by the country in 2019, followed by a pandemic-plagued 2020, many signs point to the fact that the South African property market will experience a revitalization in 2021.
Last year, there were predictions on how badly South African property prices will crash. Amid the speculations that the property market would crash greatly due to the global lockdown, South African house prices rose by 3.05, the rate of demand for houses in the cities has greatly increased. The buoyancy of the property market is a result of people wanting to live in different environments and different houses after being locked in for a long time during the pandemic. This trend is said to have contributed greatly to the South African property market. South Africans want much better properties with new experiences. Covid-19 took a turn on the world, there is a high demand because they want something new, different and exceptional.
Mid-value Properties priced within the ranges of R250, 000 to R700, 000 contributed a gain of 4.9% to the property market in 2020. In 2019, these property prices only grew by 3.6% – healthy growth and increase between 2019 and 2020. Luxury properties in the ranges of R700, 000 to R1.5 million and above grew 2.5% in 2020 and trended closer to -0.5% at the end of 2019.
The South African real estate market is gradually regaining its balance as a support fund has been put in place by the government for first-time homebuyers, including a subsidy for low and medium-income earners. Furthermore, properties below R1, 000,000 require no transfer duties.