Hayley Ivins-Downes , Managing Executive Real Estate at Lightstone , a provider of comprehensive data , analytics and systems on property , automotive and business assets , says the data shows that , of the country ’ s 5.45m residential properties ( excluding social housing ), approximately one third is owned by > 60yrs olds . A quarter of these owners bought their properties after they turned 60 , and just 44 000 of these properties are in formal retirement villages , which suggests they are targeted at the upper end of the market .
Properties owned by > 60
The pie chart shows how ownership of the > 60 year olds is split between subsidised housing ( 1.3M ), non-retirement housing ( 1.5M ), and formally registered commercial retirement homes ( 44 000 ).
Lightstone has identified around 650 retirement complexes in South Africa - either Estates or Sectional Schemes - which use words like “ retirement ”, “ old age ”, “ bejaard ”, “ aged ”, or “ outehuis ” in their name .
Some 350 of the complexes are made up of properties registered at the Deeds Office ( a total of 44k units ), while around 300 entities are registered as one property at the Deeds Office but owned by , or allocated to , social services who manage units .
At most , these 650 entities account for less than an estimated 100 000 units and no more than 125 000 individuals , a small proportion of the over five million people who are 60 years of age or older .
Formally registered retirement properties
“ The 350 complexes containing units registered at the Deeds Office account for 44 000 properties , of which 33 000 are privately owned and 11 000 are owned by companies or trusts . These properties house anything between 44 000 to 88 000 people , assuming one or two people live in each property . More than half of the properties are valued at more than R1.5m ,” Ivins-Downes added .
52 REI MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2024