Foreign buyers purchase within developing regions of South Africa

Nigerians have been ranked amongst some of the top foreign buyers of choice properties throughout different parts of South Africa, who are particularly focusing on developing areas rather than the major regions of Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

For example, Nigerians alongside other foreign buyers purchased around 670 properties worth approximately R800million in Kwazulu Natal and 260 properties worth approximately R23million in the Eastern Cape. It has been revealed that there is a growing trend amongst the said foreign buyers towards purchasing properties in South Africa as an investment, rather than for personal use.

Analysts of the industry owe this to South Africa’s consistency in economic policy during recent years and the country’s general election having ended without a major hitch upon for investors’ interest. This is as well as that there has been a global rise in the number of high net worth individuals.

A recently released World Report 2014 revealed the number of financially solid individuals worldwide, increased by 15% to 13.7million.

The buying trend has increased from 16% last year to 19.5% during the first quarter of this year, according to Sotheby’s International Realty company.

Property sales towards foreign buyers surpassed R6.5billion worth of property with Africans taking a majority within South Africa last year. It has been revealed that the depreciation in value of the rand over the recent two years has made South African property more appealing towards buyers with dollars, euros or pounds to spend.

The proportion of buyers from countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe had risen from 16% during the third quarter of last year to 19.5% at the end of the first quarter of this year. Foreign buying contributed approximately 3.6% of the total value of residential sales throughout the country last year.

Africa is forecast to experience the most rapid growth in the creation of millionaires over the next decade. These individuals are presently expanding their real estate’s portfolios quite rapidly, accounting for the rising number of buyers from other African countries.

Around 25 to 30% is generally held in real estate. However, most of these are within developed countries, with increasing numbers hoping to purchase investment properties within developing parts of the world such as South Africa, regarded to remain peaceful, offering good growth prospects.