Published on 20 April 2006 at 10:08 am
Filed in Property News for South Africa » Time to Sell Property in South Africa?
According to statistics and analysis released this week by South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB), it could be time to sell investment property in South Africa particularly if you own assets in the likes of Durban, Gauteng or in Cape Town.
With an influx of buyers and a shortage of property stock available for sale, the FNB are indicating that it’s a sellers market in South Africa and that the next quarter will be a buoyant time for the South African property market in general.
This is welcome news for those with property in South Africa that they are hoping to sell on. In the past few months it has been difficult for sellers to achieve their asking price with an estimated 60% of property investors and owners failing to get their original sale price. But with an increase in demand from the local market seeking residential real estate as a principal residence rather than a buy to let opportunity, property investors now have a solid base to market to.
First National Bank base their analysis of the property market on facts, figures, statistics and opinions gathered from a sample base of real estate agents across South Africa, and according to Ed Grondel the chief executive of FNB Home Loans the “real estate professionals [who we speak to] prove over time to be absolutely accurate” and their current opinion is that market activity across the country is heating up.
While the record property price increases that South Africa enjoyed a few years ago have ended, there remains more demand for real estate than real estate currently available for sale creating a healthy market for property vendors. The chief economist from FNB Dr Bruggemans revealed in a recent interview that for every property for sale in Durban there are sixteen potential buyers, for every property for sale in Cape Town there are eight buyers and for every property for sale in the Gauteng Township there are seven buyers and so there is “a substantial surplus of buyers compared to sellers at this point in time.”
For those property investors who have real estate assets in South Africa and who were worried about the long term profitability and potential for their investment this news from FNB could offer them a way to exit the market at a time when prices remain high, market interest remains intense and confidence in the market has not been shaken too dramatically.
