You may be looking at property for sale in Alberton or other parts of South Africa and finding yourself a little hesitant to make a move due to the current state of the property market.
This is completely understandable as the market has gone into a bit of a dip in recent times, with experts pointing at the technical recession and global pressures. There is also the confusion regarding land expropriation, although there is now a lot more clarity on the issue.
However, that all takes time to trickle down to the masses and it has resulted in a tougher market for buyers and sellers. It is important to note that this is not the worst situation in the market in the last 30 years – not by a long shot.
To give you an understanding, we take a look at a timeline of tough events in the property market since the 1980s.
1980s – At this point, there was a lot of unrest in South Africa and the interest rate on properties took a major knock. Even the most luxurious properties, such as those in Camps Bay, Cape Town, were almost impossible to sell.
- 1990s – This was a revolutionary time in the country, and with all that was going on, the market was almost dead. The pressure hit a high by 1998, where the interest rate had surged to 25.5%, and this was despite economic growth.
- 2000s – There were more tough times to come in this decade, and there were a number of factors that contributed. There was the introduction of the National Credit Regulatory which made it more difficult for many people to get finance, and the banks were also tightening their belts by offering less. Then the 2008 Global Financial Crisis hit hard, which saw interest rates fly and the market plummeted.
- 2010 – There was improvement in this decade, but it is a case of mixed emotions. The World Cup never brought the expected business the market had hoped for, and there was some slow recovery in the few years that followed. From 2014-2017 there was a nice boom, especially in the high-demand areas, but now in 2018 their has been another downward trend.
Taking this into consideration, it is best that you approach the market with an open and realistic outlook. That way, sellers will walk away with a satisfying price, while buyers will be pleased that they got their money’s worth.
