The latest newsletter from Lightstone has identified the top five sought-after suburbs among affluent South Africans, based on property sales data and total purchase prices for the year 2023.
This data indicates shifts in South Africa's real estate landscape, with Bryanston in Gauteng emerging as the leading suburb in terms of both sales volume and total purchase value for the period.
Sea Point in the Western Cape climbed to second place in 2023, up from third in the previous year, while Midstream Estate in Gauteng slipped to third position after ranking second in 2022.
Notably, Val de Vie and Fresnaye, which occupied the fourth and fifth spots respectively in the Western Cape in 2022, dropped out of the top five in 2023. In their place, Sibaya Coastal Precinct in KwaZulu-Natal claimed fourth position, followed by Sunningdale in the Western Cape at fifth.
The following table illustrates the top five suburbs with the highest number of property transfers valued over R1 million:
# | Suburb | Province | Volume | Total Purchase Price (in billions of Rands) |
1 | Bryanston | Gauteng | 802 | R2.69 |
2 | Sea Point | Western Cape | 679 | R2.59 |
3 | Midstream Estate | Gauteng | 567 | R2.10 |
4 | Sibaya Coastal Precinct | KZN | 419 | R1.72 |
5 | Sunningdale | Western Cape | 537 | R1.49 |
As of February 2024, South Africa's residential property market is valued at just over R6.8 trillion.
Noteworthy findings from the report include the fact that estates, while comprising only 6.6% of total properties, contribute 18.1% to the overall market value.
Similarly, sectional title properties represent 12.9% of total properties but contribute 15.7% to the market value.
Despite freehold properties making up the largest share of the market at 80.5% of total stock, their contribution to market value is 66.3%.
The average value of properties within estates was approximately R2.7 million in February 2024, compared to R1.1 million for sectional title units and R807,000 for freehold units.
The proportion of properties sold for less than R500,000 has decreased significantly from 58% in 2010 to 31% in 2023, while sales in the R500,000 to R1 million range have remained steady at around 25-26%.
Conversely, there has been a notable increase in purchases within the R1 million to R3 million range, from 15% in 2010 to 35% in 2023, as well as in higher price bands.
Despite a slight decline in residential property transfers in 2023 compared to the previous year, the market remained stable, ending the year with a total value of R241 billion. This figure, although lower than 2022, is higher than that of 2020.
The first two months of 2024 have shown a similar trend, with slightly lower transfer volumes and values compared to the same period in the previous year.
March historically exhibits higher transfer volumes and values, which will be interesting to observe in 2024.