Despite numerous economic challenges, the South African property market has demonstrated surprising resilience in the first quarter of 2024. However, house price growth remains constrained by broader economic conditions.
Adrian Goslett, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa said he anticipated slow growth in face of the external factors, including record-high interest rates, rising inflation, and slow economic growth.
“With all that in mind... at the end of Q1 2024, our reported sales are up 22% on Q1 2023. What’s more, the average days until a listing was marked as sold on remax.co.za was 21.5 days,” he said.
However, data from the Deeds Office reveals that the national average sales price in Q1 2024 was R1,158,987, a slight decrease of 0.95% from R1,170,135 in Q1 2023.
While the overall market saw a roughly 10% decline in registered sales value, the RE/MAX SA network reported a 6% increase in registered sales value.
Expanding on this, Goslett said that registered sales totals reflect sales that were concluded roughly two to three months prior to the date of registration.
Provincial and Suburb Trends
The average registered sales price of the RE/MAX SA network exceeded the national average in every province. When examining listing prices on remax.co.za, the average active listing price dropped notably from R4,768,265 in Q1 2023 to R2,754,249 in Q1 2024.
As this is live data, it is likely to significantly impact registered sales totals in the next quarter, said Goslett.
As the province with the largest population, Gauteng had the highest number of units sold in Q1 2024, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
While Gauteng led in the top five spots for total units sold per suburb, the Western Cape dominated in terms of total sales value per suburb.
When analysing search volumes on remax.co.za, the Western Cape held all five top spots for the most searched suburbs. It also continued to be the highest-priced province, with a provincial average sales price of R1,634,145.
Top 5 suburbs based on total units sold:
Fleurhof, Gauteng
Nigel Rural, Gauteng
Cosmo City, Gauteng
Sitari Country Estate, Somerset West, Western Cape
Randpark Ridge, Gauteng
Top 5 suburbs based on total sales value:
Sunningdale, Western Cape
Constantia, Western Cape
Sea Point, Western Cape
Bryanston, Gauteng
Clifton, Western Cape
Top 5 most searched suburbs on remax.co.za:
Parklands, Western Cape
Claremont, Western Cape
Sunningdale, Western Cape
Rondebosch, Western Cape
Bloubergstand, Western Cape
“My interpretation of this data is that there is still a strong need to buy and sell property across South Africa; however, owing to the restrictive broader economic conditions, buyers are unable - and most likely also unwilling - to pay an inflated price for a property.
"When this happens, house price growth remains slow because sellers have to realign their asking price to what buyers are willing and able to offer within the current market," said Goslett.
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