Foreign house buyers on the up

Foreigners who do not have residency in South Africa pay more, on average, for their properties than foreigners who do have residency – and both categories pay more, on average, than local buyers.

In addition, the combined foreign share of market since 2019 has increased marginally, an analysis by Lightstone of residential purchases between 2019 to 2024 has revealed.

Lightstone’s analysis is limited to residential properties bought by natural persons with one property per title deed only. The analysis also distinguished between foreign buyers in South Africa with SA residency, and those who do not have residency.

The gap between what locals paid, on average, and both categories of foreigners has widened over the six years, as the graph below demonstrates. The average purchase price paid by foreigners without residency was just above R2.7m in 2024, considerably more than the R1.2m average purchase price paid by locals.

Average purchase prices: 2019 – 2024

Foreigners without residency who bought property in 2023 outnumbered foreign buyers with residency, a pattern which continued in 2024 as the graphs below show.

The proportion of foreign buyers with residency has slipped from 3.8% in 2019 to 3.3% in 2024, while the proportion of foreign buyers without residency has increased from 2.9% to 3.7%. House sales to locals have drifted back marginally, from 93.3% to 93%.

Foreigners with / without SA residency: 2019 – 2024

Buyer split since 2019

Preferred destinations of foreign buyers

The Western Cape is the preferred destination for foreign buyers, leading the way in each of the three price bands analysed: they accounted for just over 40% of all purchases in transactions above R10m, around 25% of transactions between R5m-R10m, and around 15% of transactions between R3m-R5m.

2024 Foreign ownership by province and price band

Scarborough, a seaside village situated on the edge of the Cape Point Nature Reserve, was the suburb with the highest proportion of foreign buyers in 2024, followed by Chapmans Peak, Bakoven and De Waterkant. All the top 22 suburbs were in the Western Cape.

Areas with the highest proportion of foreign buyers: 2023 and 2024

Value bands

The key takeaway from the graph below is that the higher the value of the property, the greater the percentage of foreigner buyers – and in 2024, foreign buyers made up 40% of all purchases above R10m.