Leadhome CEO Marcél du Toit says the latest interest rate cut was ‘fantastic news’ for South African consumers and would boost the property market even further. Leadhome’s data shows a whopping 46% increase in buyer activity since level 5 of lockdown ended, and 45% over the same period in 2019.

“Interest rates are a key factor in thinking about the best time to sell your home in South Africa, as they greatly affect people’s ability to buy property. Low-interest rates bring down the costs to obtain a home loan and create a higher demand for real estate,” said Du Toit. 

“What we’re seeing right now is that not only are there more interested buyers, but because of the attractive lending rate, buyers are able to pay a bit more for the property that they love. We predict that more buyers will look to take advantage of these historically low interest rates to acquire their dream property. However, more buyers mean more competition, so they need to be willing to pay fair value – we’re not going to see properties being sold cheaply.”

One of the key indicators to assess the attractiveness of selling your property at any given time is the ratio of buyer enquiries received against the number of properties marketed, measured over a rolling seven-day period. The higher the ratio, the more buyer interest there is, which indicates a better time to put your property on the market; a lower ratio means the opposite.

Since the hard lockdown ended on 1 June, buyer interest has skyrocketed, averaging 90% buyer enquiries to marketed properties ratio, compared to a 62% average in 2019. At the same time, Leadhome’s data shows buyers paying an average 96.7% of sellers’ asking price since 1 June, compared to the 2019 average of 96.4%.

To make the market even more attractive, bond originators Bondspark say there is an emerging trend of banks being ‘slightly more bullish’ in offering more attractive home loan packages. While banks are still doing comprehensive due diligence around affordability by consumers, there is strong competition between banks to grant home loans, especially to people with good credit records.

What does this mean? “For sellers, it’s a great time to put your property on the market. And if you’re considering buying a property, know that you need to bring your A-game! There is a lot of interest in, and competition for, properties, which means that you’ll need to be prepared to pay fair value for that house of your dreams,” said Du Toit.