Jozi/Sandton homes market shows signs of usual first-quarter uptick

If your property needs are pressing - whether as a buyer or a seller - this is a traditionally buoyant time of the year in which to transact....a time when the market is more alive than at any other stage on the annual calendar.

Every year, the Johannesburg/Sandton residential property market ticks upwards from the middle of January - when children are back at school - to the end of March.

True to form, by mid-week January 2020, Ennik Estates' Sunday show days had two to three times more visits than normal from prospective buyers.

It is a seasonal trend that often reflects the thoughts, discussions and decisions that flow from family members talking to each other during the Christmas holiday season - be it on beaches, in game parks or on the front porch at home.

Is the current home too small - or too big? Are the kids off to university - or changing schools / going to school for the first time? Is relocation necessary after a career change or a promotion?

Annual record month

All this activity ripples positively across the market every year. Even in the bad years, there has always been this seasonal improvement in sentiment. So much so that February has been the annual record month more than 60 per cent of the time in my long management life in the residential property arena.

This seasonal phenomenon is good for both buyers and sellers. It is a period in which buyers have access to a whole lot of new stock that comes on the market, while sellers will benefit from the inevitable wave of fresh buyers who are all seeking to be in the race.

Thorough research

It is at this time of the year when buyers should take the opportunity to research the homes market thoroughly...and transact rather than miss the boat on an ideal for-sale property.

The buyer-to-stock ratio is better in the first quarter of the year than at any other period on the calendar. Therefore, it presents excellent opportunities to sellers who have the will and foresight.

Sellers should therefore be visibly on show - at their keenest price in a market in which there is little or no wiggle room. By pricing accurately, you will be surprised at how close to your price target the outcome will be.

A buoyant time

For those whose property needs are pressing - whether buyer or seller - hesitancy may well result in missing the boat to a good opportunity.

Given that the homes market is livelier now than at other times on the annual calendar, the timing of this buoyancy could carry us through, and beyond, the gloom and doom issues that currently confront the homes sector.

They include the Internal Monetary Fund (IMF) growth forecast of less than one per cent for South Africa this year; a widely expected Moody's downgrade; the dismal state of Eskom; SAA  and other State-owned enterprises; increased political factionalism within the ruling party; and persistent uncertainty around the despised issue of 'load shedding'.