Every year the South African Summer trends tend to fluctuate based on regional buying activities and economic circumstances influencing consumer confidence. During the beginning of this year and the festive period of 2020 we saw fantastic trading months along Coastal regions, especially Cape Town, and this year is set to be no different.
As the festive season kicked off this week we saw holidaymakers stream along the national highways heading to their intended destinations. Initial reports from our coastal short term rental agents are that activity is high. When people from inland travel to the coast during the end of year holidays we see that translate into new buyers penetrating those markets.
After almost two years of stringent COVID measures and effects on the economy, we are seeing buyers take advantage of low interest rates and therefore purchasing appetites returning to normal.
The long term effects of COVID cannot be measured at this point, and even with a new variant igniting a fourth wave, citizens have become accustomed to continuing their lives with the necessary safety measures in place. Especially with real estate being a long term investment and these regions providing fantastic capital growth.
Areas like Ballito in KZN are growing at a rapid rate and buyers from all over the country are taking notice, identifying good entry points, wide variety of options and ROI. In addition, St. Francis Bay, Plettenberg Bay and Hermanus are particularly busy with many South Africans having to change their overseas holiday plans and rather vacation locally.
One of the advantages of partnering with an agency like Harcourts is that we have a fantastic internal referral system that ensures your needs are taken care of across all agents in our group you choose to work with. That way we can maintain the same high level of service across the board.
Statement by
Richard Gray
Harcourts SA CEO