Foreign buying is not one market
This edition of our Property Newsletter looks beyond the headline assumptions in South Africa’s property market. Our lead story examines foreign-buyer activity over the past decade, showing that while foreign buyers account for a small share of total residential transactions, their influence becomes far more visible in premium price bands and in specific local markets.
This edition of our Property Newsletter looks beyond the headline assumptions in South Africa’s property market. Our lead story examines foreign-buyer activity over the past decade, showing that while foreign buyers account for a small share of total residential transactions, their influence becomes far more visible in premium price bands and in specific local markets.
Premium house market appeals to foreign buyers
Foreign buyers accounted for just 6% of South African residential transactions over the past decade, but their influence rises sharply in premium price bands. Lightstone’s analysis shows that foreign buyers accounted for 15% of transactions between R4m and R10m, 26% between R10m and R20m, and 39% above R20m. The data also shows that foreign buying is not one market, with different patterns emerging across Cape lifestyle suburbs, Limpopo game estates, Johannesburg immigrant communities and selected coastal markets.
Read MoreProfile of young buyers changes but numbers fall
Young South Africans are buying fewer homes than they did 20 years ago, but the profile of those who do buy is changing. Lightstone’s latest analysis shows that women-only and black buyers now make up a growing share of under-35 residential property purchases, even as younger buyers account for a smaller portion of the market overall. The article looks at how affordability pressure, ageing ownership patterns and changing demographics are affecting younger buyers and their path into homeownership.
Read More
Twenty years on: property’s biggest shift is trust
As Lightstone marks 20 years in financial services, we reflect on how trusted data has changed decision-making across South Africa’s property market. From the rise of automated valuation models to AI-supported insight, property intelligence has helped bring greater confidence to lending, valuations and advisory conversations. The article also considers the sector’s long-term challenge: ensuring that better data, better tools and better decisions help address affordability and access to housing.
Read MoreProperty Inflation Rises to 4.8%
According to Lightstone’s latest Property Index, national year-on-year house price inflation has continued to rise, with annual property inflation at 4.8% and monthly inflation at 0.45%. While growth remains below the previous peak recorded in mid-2021, the market continues to show gentle positive movement. The Western Cape remains the strongest-performing major province, although growth has flattened, while Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal continue on more modest growth paths.
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