Covid19 could reshape South Africa’s work landscape – and with it where many people choose to live.
While the full impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt, it is creating opportunities throughout the residential property market – and high up on the list is coastal property.
As South Africa moves to Lockdown Level 1, more and more families are looking to swap the hustle of big city living for the coast, where nature, family and lifestyle come first.
Estate agents are reporting better than expected interest in popular coastal areas such as northern KZN and the southern Cape coast – and this mirrors a trend in other countries, where those who no longer need to be in the cities are opting for safer, more relaxing lifestyles in smaller towns or villages.
Those who are relocating are creating opportunities in the cities for existing homeowners to buy-up and first-time homeowners to enter the market.
So, while changing work demands are encouraging a new look at coastal markets, all buyers are taking advantage of reduced interest rates – at a 50 year low – and the price correction which has been underway for some time in the residential market.
Real estate agencies only opened on June 1, and sales activity was surprisingly brisk once the “For Sale” signs went up around the country.
FNB said recently buyer interest on property portals and the volume of new mortgage applications had surpassed pre-lockdown levels.
Our focus is, however, on the coastal market, where transfers (graph below) in the first quarter of 2020 were slightly down on the comparable period in 2019.
There is no further data available given that the deeds office was closed for some time, but it is widely anticipated the trend will swing the other way when the Q3 data is released and the impact of the reported activity feeds through the system.