Prime areas of Gauteng are now a dream market

There is clearly no question that the residential property sector in the prime areas of Gauteng is now a buyer’s market - clearly offering the best value we have seen for many years. 

And if the July interest rate cut is the start of a sustained pattern, the increased consumer disposable income that it creates will add more weight to the prospect of a market upturn.

What we are seeing now is the emergence of a dream market for buyers. It is a market that is offering extraordinary value. And, if value is a consideration, it simply cannot be a mistake to buy residential property in the higher end of Gauteng suburbia right now.

This is not an over-bullish viewpoint.

Looking back to see ahead

Sometimes it helps to look back to where we have been to appreciate where we are now – and to draw encouragement from it. 

Take December 2007, for instance. In that single month almost a decade ago, the South African homes market was confronted, simultaneously, by ongoing nationwide power blackouts; a plunging Rand; soaring interest rates; a global oil price that was nudging $150 a barrel; and a 35% fall in the JSE.

To top it all, our (then) Police Commissioner was criminally charged, while our (then) deputy President was indicted to stand trial for corruption. 

At the same time, the notorious sub-prime bubble was about to burst; and the (then new) National Credit Act was in full flight… and biting hard. Furthermore, faced by a market downslide, the national real estate agent community had begun its dilution from 80 000 to 25 000.

No cause for gloom and doom

While current sentiment in the Gauteng residential property market may well have been somewhat diluted by recent unwelcome market-impacting developments, there is certainly no cause for doom and gloom.  

The light has been turned by the GuptaLeaks phenomenon. As a country, we are now climbing out of a dark hole and can see the light.