The residential property market is often an indicator of an area’s overall health, and the time-on-market of listings in Johannesburg and Cape Town tells a story of South Africa’s two leading cities travelling along different roads.
Cape Town’s recent trajectory has been upward, investment-led and accompanied by a generally rising residential property market but challenged by inequality, exacerbated by the inward migration of people in search of work. Johannesburg, on the other hand, has been stagnating in parts and drifting downwards in others. Fixing governance, finances, and infrastructure is seen by many as a prerequisite for any broader recovery.
Lightstone’s assessment of different data points relating to time-on-market of residential property listings provides another dimension to each city’s unfolding story. Time-on-market (days a listing is active) signals how quickly homes sell. Shorter time-on-market could mean strong buyer demand or limited supply (a seller’s market), an attractive or accurate price or that the property is highly desirable or in a good location. The seller has more negotiating power with likely multiple offers and faster closings and could reflect investor activity or urgent buyer need.
Longer time-on-market could mean weaker demand or excess supply (a buyer’s market). The price may be too high, or the property has issues (condition, layout, marketing), buyers have more negotiating power while lenders/inspections have more leverage, and it could reflect seasonal slowdowns or niche overpriced listings.
As residential time-on-market shortened in 2026 following earlier increases, Lightstone examined how sales fared recently in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The latest figures from media reports show a national average of about 10 weeks and 6 days in Q2 2026, down from around 12 weeks and 1 day in Q1 2025, and still below the long-term average of about
As residential time-on-market shortened in 2026 following earlier increases, Lightstone examined how sales fared recently in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The latest figures from media reports show a national average of about 10 weeks and 6 days in Q2 2026, down from around 12 weeks and 1 day in Q1 2025, and still below the long-term average of about 13 weeks.
The data suggests that homes have been selling a bit faster nationally than they were in 2024–2025, and the market has been more liquid. Media reports say well-priced homes in strong locations moved faster than average, while overpriced or weaker-location homes took longer
Of course, the stories aren’t always what they seem. So, what did Lightstone discover? Residential properties sold quicker in Cape Town than Johannesburg in every price band in Q1 2026, while South Africa’s largest city also lagged behind the national time-on-market median in all but one price band.
Median time-on-market in days: Q1 2026
In Q1 2026, affordable properties valued at less than R500k took the longest to sell in Johannesburg at a median of 132 days, compared to just 49 days in Cape Town and the national median of 85 days. This suggests a difficulty in qualifying for bonds could be holding the affordable market segment back.
Johannesburg’s best performers in terms of time-on-market at 45 days were homes valued at between R4 million - R6 million, while in Cape Town sellers of homes between R1.5 million -R2 million waited a median of just 16 days to put the “Sold” sign up. Homes above R6 million were the slowest to sell in Cape Town at 49 days, compared to 93 days in Johannesburg and 67 days nationally.
Looking at a longer time frame (see graph below), from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026 for listings between R3 million - R4 million, Johannesburg’s spike in time-on-market in Q1 2026 mirrored the same period in 2024, while Q1 in 2025 was more in keeping with the market’s performance in the quarters before and after. In contrast, Cape Town’s time-on-market in this price band has been coming down steadily, from a median of 48 days in Q1 2024 to 20 days in Q1 2026.
Median time-on-market for listings R3 million - R4 million: 2024-2026
A snapshot of median time-on-market by value band (graph below) demonstrates that properties listed between R1 million - R4 million sold quickest in Q1 and Q2 2026, with listings between R500 000 - R1 million taking the longest. In Q1 2024 it was listings under R500 000 which took longest to sell, and this price band has dropped to 59 days in Q2 2026 from a high of 92 days in Q4 2025. However, this situation may change as data from the Deeds Office flows through.
National median time-on-market by value band: 2024-2026
Overall, though, listings at lesser (below R1 million) and higher prices (above R6 million) tended to take longer than listings in the range between the two.
Did sellers get their asking price?
Lightstone has limited this exercise to sales in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 and again, Cape Town fared better as a much larger proportion of successful listings in Johannesburg dropped their asking price.
The graph below demonstrates that 20% of sellers reduced their asking price in Cape Town for listings above R6 million compared to 19% in Johannesburg, the one price band where the City of Gold outperformed the Mother City. This might be because Cape Town sellers price aggressively when they go to market, hoping to take advantage of strong demand for residential property.
Sellers in Johannesburg of properties listed between R500 000 - R1 million were the most likely to reduce, at 40% (compared to 24% in Cape Town), followed by those selling properties listed between R1.5 million - R2 million.
% sellers reducing their asking price: Q4 2025-Q1 2026 Johannesburg and Cape Town
% buyer offers less than asking price: Q4 2025-Q1 2026 Johannesburg and Cape Town
More buyers in Johannesburg offered less than the listing price than in Cape Town, reflecting the latter’s stronger market.
% reduction of asking price: Q4 2025-Q1 2026 Johannesburg and Cape Town
How much sellers came down tells a different story to how many of them came down at all. Reductions sit in a narrower range in both cities, between roughly 6% and 9% which suggests the gap between Johannesburg and Cape Town lies in how often sellers drop their price rather than by how much.
Johannesburg sellers took the deeper cut in five of the seven price brands, the largest between R1 million and R1.5 million at 9.4%. Above R6 million the position reverses: Cape Town sellers who dropped their price came down 9.3% against Johannesburg's 8,4%, the biggest reduction in any Cape Town band, it supports the view that sellers at the top of the Cape Town market list high and expect to negotiate. The second reversal is between R500 000 and R1 million, where Cape Town's 8.2% edges Johannesburg's 7.8% - the bank in which Johannesburg sellers were most likely to reduce, but by less when they did.
Note: As Deeds Office transactions are recorded about three months after an offer to purchase is signed, Q2 sales data is not yet complete.
