The full picture in numbers

OF the 8.1 million formal properties in South Africa, 6.2 million, or 77%, are residential. Slightly more than a tenth are in sectional-title complexes, while 83.2% are freehold houses and 5.1% are homes in residential estates, according to data from Lightstone.

The country’s residential properties are valued at R4.3-trillion, where contributions by value are 15% sectional title, 69.9% freehold and an outsized 15.1% estate homes.

A provincial breakdown of volumes and values reflects economic activity, with Gauteng accounting for 33.9% of all residential properties at 38.7% of the total market value, while the Western Cape has 17.5% of homes at 25.4% of total value.

The Eastern Cape features a tenth of all homes but they are worth just 6.8% of the total market, while the Free State has 7.8% of all residential properties at 3.8% of total market value.

A third of all properties are bonded, although these homes make up more than half the value of the market. Only 8.7% of houses are worth more than R3-million, but together they make up a fifth of all value.

Despite accounting for nearly 40% of homes by number, those houses worth up to R250 000 make up just 6.3% of value.

Cape Town’s seaside luxury suburbs distort the picture for the city, which has 700 000 homes worth more than R3-million (10% of the total) accounting for a third of its R800-billion provincial property market. Johannesburg has the same number (12.2%) of its homes valued over R3-million but these make up just 30% of its provincial market, at R700-billion.

A fifth of all owners from Gauteng who sold property in the province and bought another in 2010 did not buy in the province.

By last year, this proportion was just under a third, although a downturn in luxury home prices may slow this trend. —