DURBAN – Spring has seen the green shoots of increasing activity in the residential property market in the price band mainly below R3 million take further root according to Richard Day, Chief Executive of fixed-fee agency, Eazi.
"Encouragingly, Eazi’s confirmed sales in July and August 2019 were up 141 percent over the same period last year while August was 146 percent up on average monthly sales for 2019 to date," said Day.
Currently, Eazi's average sales price is just over R1.8 million, which confirms that the convenient, user-friendly fixed-fee offering has been well accepted by the marketplace, especially as they are seeing 95 percent of their offers being accepted by sellers.
"In addition, while our quickest time to sell has been one day, we recently sold a three-bedroom house in Kensington, Cape Town in just 10 days for the full asking price of R1 499 999," said Day.
The positive uptick the agency is seeing in residential property market activity is echoed by FNB, which reports that indicators point to a narrowing demand-supply gap, driven by both a mild improvement in demand and properties entering the market at a slower pace.
"This is coupled with somewhat improved market sentiment as well as value-for-money opportunities for buyers, and increased competition among mortgage lenders – together with a stable, relatively low interest rate," added the Chief Executive.
FNB reports that transaction volumes, estimated using Deeds registry data, have improved by 0.9 percent in Q2 in 2019. The price band from R700 000 to R1.8 million was the best performing segment, with volumes increasing by 5 percent year on year, followed by the price band between R1.8 million and R3.5 million, which reflected growth of 2.4 percent over the same period.
"Today’s home buyers are increasingly tech-savvy, as borne out by our website statistics, which reflected 129 percent more page views as well as 129 percent more buyer leads in August compared to the monthly average for the year to date. As the fixed-fee method of selling homes becomes entrenched in the marketplace, we anticipate further growth in sales activity," concluded Day.
Eazi
Eazi.com is an online digital estate agency which was recently acquired by Pam Golding Property group.
The hybrid agency model has a technology platform that enables buyers and sellers to conclude real estate transactions including: book valuations, change prices, arrange viewings, collect feedback, review marketing data, send messages, make offers and agree sales 24/7. This model uses technology to reduce costs and pass savings onto consumers in the form of lower, flat fees.
Eazi.com is a Cape Town-based, technology-enabled, fixed-fee service with call centre support which enables consumers to buy and sell residential property for a fixed fee of R29 500 plus VAT which is only payable on sale of the property.