Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February/March 2019 | Page 15

JOHANNESBURG
Approved building plans per province – Jan – July 2018
Consumer confidence holds the key to any possible
turnaround in the residential market in 2019 says Herschel
Jawitz, CEO of Jawitz Properties. While consumer
confidence remains in positive territory, it has not yet
translated into an increase in the demand for property by
buyers. The 2019 residential market will continue to offer
buyers the best value in terms of property prices and buying
opportunities since the 2008/9 market crash.
Africans investing in Africa
While the number of international buyers in residential
property in South Africa remains relatively low, at
somewhere in the region of three percent nationally,
investors from elsewhere on the continent – including
returning expats - retain their appetite for the acquisition of
South African real estate for a variety of reasons according
to Andrew Golding, CEO of Pam Golding Properties.
These include countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Namibia, Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique,
Angola, DRC, Ghana and Gabon, among others. The
price range mostly in demand is from around R800  000
to approximately R5 million, with some enquiries and
transactions up to R10 million and beyond.
Many are business executives, including entrepreneurs,
either travelling regularly to South Africa on business or
establishing bases from which to expand their operations,
not only in South Africa but also in other African countries.
As they may spend considerable time in the country it
makes economic sense to purchase a property here, an
evident growing trend.
The 2019 residential market will continue to offer buyers
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019
13