Residential property sales likely to remain subdued
Lack of consumer confidence, not affordability, remains the main stumbling block
It may be the best time to buy a house since the global economic crisis, but 2019 is unlikely to see an influx of new buyers, according to Herschel Jawitz, head of Jawitz Properties. In 2018, the average house price in SA grew by only 3.7%, according to FNB property sector strategist John Loos, the lowest growth in seven years. This was the third straight year that house price growth had fallen in real terms, once inflation had been stripped out. The average house price growth recorded in 2017 was 4.2%. This means it is a good time to get into the housing market, which looks to have bottomed out, according to Jawitz. “I don’t think prices will fall off a cliff in SA overall this year. It’s more likely that we’ll see similar growth to last year unless we get a sudden boost in economic growth,” he said. Property price growth across all the major metro regions was expected to remain subdued in the first half of 2019, and national nominal price growth was expected to be between 4% to 6%...
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