“ Younger buyers want to see us walk the talk, and the three-man Evo team prides itself in this. As we are all just under 30, and we have all put our money where our mouths are. Because property buyers see us owning our properties, they ask us for advice a lot, and being able to report back that experience and insight to them makes them feel more secure,” Germanis says.
“ There’ s nothing better than empowering someone to allow them to own their own home.”
“ Developments have always been an attractive option for homeowners because of the low initial transaction costs, such as not paying transfer duties or sometimes no attorney ' s fees,” Germanis says.
Investing During Covid
Now, due to the economically devastating impact of covid19, prices are dropping in new units and this allows first-time buyers to invest in a would-be expensive area. This especially appealing for tenants who want to buy, or would-be buyers in outerlying areas. Germanis says his company has experienced this on the ground, with millennials buying now.
“ Despite a perception that the studenthousing market took a battering, we actually saw the opposite. Younger, wouldbe, buyers across all racial groupings who had been living with their parents or in Cape Town’ s outer-lying suburbs are now deciding to move out and are looking closer to town. Even properties that previously accommodated students in communal setups are now being converted into multilet arrangements, and are attracting a growing number of out-of-towners.”
“ There’ s big demand from young professionals who work for the likes of Amazon or Woolworths Financial Services. Low interest rates, but also a demand for more privacy and space for them to work from home, is really driving demand,” He says.
Even though gaining a lot of traction, Germanis believes that the central city isn’ t the only area showing impressive growth. The market is showing that people are believing in their own place of residence, especially when looking at suburbs like Mitchells Plain.
“ For instance, younger people who work for Telkom, Eskom and SARS, earn excellent salaries and want to remain in those areas, whether it’ s buying for the first time or investing in something a little bigger. Those areas are heavily community-driven, and everyone’ s chatting to everyone else, so word gets out about a particular property, so selling and buying in these areas is not very difficult to navigate,” Gernanis adds.
Working with the Youth
Digital marketing has remained at the forefront of how, Matthew McWilliams, Evo’ s marketing director, has grown an impressive database of postgraduate students and young working professionals wanting to buy or rent.
“ Facebook and Instagram remain our top platforms, but we also see plenty of traffic through our website and first-to-market online apartment reservation system,” Germanis concludes.
SOURCE Evo Properties
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine FEBRUARY 2021 27