Status of SA’ s residential property market
ACQUIRING
Trends & opportunities for affordable housing
Status of SA’ s residential property market
MARIA NKHONJERA
The Covid19 pandemic has laid bare the deep structural inequalities in South Africa, and the extensive vulnerabilities in our housing systems. With millions of South Africans living in insecure housing, the stimulation of the residential property market can not only increase the delivery of adequate housing, it can also play a key role in driving economic growth as part of a Covid19 economic recovery strategy.
As the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance( CAHF) has extensively documented, sustainable human settlements can significantly contribute to South Africa’ s economic transformation efforts. At a household level, home ownership is an opportunity for wealth creation and empowerment.
While the full impact of COVID-19 is still to be seen, it is anticipated that the housing affordability challenge and lack of low-income housing has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Deeds registry data, supplied by Lightstone, allows for a detailed analysis of affordability patterns, gap markets, and borrowing constraints in the residential property market. Although this data, analysed by CAHF, only extends to 31 December 2019 and therefore precedes COVID-19, it illuminates the state of the residential property market at the lower
20 DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine