Whatshot
Property Talk
Property Talk
Date: 2016-04-15
An age group analysis of individual property buyers in the market was conducted by FNB. They segmented the deeds office data into property transactions by natural persons and came up with 24,016 such transactions per month on average for the three months up to December 2015. It is very interesting to note that this is approximately 39% of the boom time peak volumes recorded late in 2003. Of this group of natural person buyers, a monthly average of 10,579 were identified as being below the age of 40, of which a large proportion would be first time home buyers. These numbers have been reasonably consistent since 2010. The most active age group of buyers is the 30-39 age range, followed closely by the 40-49 age group. The younger 20-29 age group has been declining consistently from a peak of 20,81% in February 2002 to the current level of 13,63%. This leads us to believe that the high real property values are keeping the average buying age relatively high. As at February 2016 the average age of individual property buyers in South Africa is 44. The trend in this average age over the past 30 years has been upwards.
The general expectations for the next 12-24 months is that the slower economy, rising interest rates and a slowing residential property market will result in a decline in the level of first time buyers in the market. The smart money would therefore be searching for good rental stock that services the profile of a typical first time buyer as many of these people will be looking to rent rather than buy over the next two years. For the greater geographical area of Ballito which is growing at a consistently strong rate, an investment in rental properties servicing the R7,000 to R12,000 per month rental bracket makes a lot of sense right now.
For further information and an interactive analysis of this article follow my blog: andreaswassenaar.blogspot.com.
Andreas Wassenaar
Principal - Seeff Dolphin Coast
Cell: 082 837 9094