JOHANNESBURG - Gauteng province remains South Africa’s largest housing market, with just over a third of the country's total housing stock, property company Pam Golding said on Wednesday.
The country's economic hub continues to be a sought after location for many buying properties, particularly those looking for homes priced under R1.5 million, including first-time home buyers.
Pam Golding cited data from Lightstone which showed that homes in the sub-R1.5 million price band accounted for 80.2 pecent of all sales registered in Gauteng in 2017, down from 90.9 percent in 2010 and reflecting the increase in prices.
“Given South Africa’s youthful population profile – with about two thirds of our residents under the age of the typical first-time home buyer ...it is no surprise that demand for homes priced at less than R1.5 million remains brisk," Pam Golding Properties senior research analyst Sandra Gordon said.
"Data also shows that there isn’t enough supply to meet demand in the affordable housing sector, resulting in strong growth in prices in this price band."
A total of 20,878 homes priced below R1.5 million were sold in Johannesburg last year, compared to 18,881 units sold in Pretoria – a trend which continued into the first half of 2018.
The latest Pam Golding Properties index shows that house price inflation for properties priced below R1 million accelerated from 4.45 percent in October last year to 6.77 percent during the same month October 2018.
Despite gloom about economic growth prospects and lack of political certainty, many property investors and buyers still see property as a sound asset class to buy into, general manager, real estate operations at Pam Golding Bradd Bendall said.