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It’s no secret that the national lockdown is going to have a massive impact on the economy.

While the president is considering easing up on extreme measures for sectors such as mining, a number of industries have ground to a halt as extreme physical distancing measures force them to close down operations.

It’s going to be a tough year, but as Bill Gates pointed out in a recent interview, we will, over time, rebuild our economy and get back on our feet.

While that’s going to take a while for most industries, those in the housing market believe that there’s a silver lining for prospective property buyers.

Samuel Seeff, chairman of the Seeff Property Group, spoke to BusinessTech about what he calls a “boon for the market” during the “emergence phase”.

“While we face an unprecedented time, we do expect to emerge from the lockdown with a ‘perfect storm’ for homebuyers who are eagerly waiting to take advantage of market conditions, especially in the sub-R1.5 million (up to R3 million in some areas) sector,” he said.

He added that this is expected to come about due to a combination of certain key events.

• Transfer duty is down across the board. Earlier this year Tito Mboweni also announced that transfer duty will no longer apply to properties that cost R1 million or less.
• The interest rate cut of 1% in March also means that more people than before will be able to afford property.
• Stock levels are also the highest they’ve been for a while. Homeowners are looking to sell and prospective home buyers are keen to take their property off their hands.

While these positives extend primarily to the middle and lower end of the property spectrum, property groups seem divided on the effect of lockdown on the high-end housing market, especially with regards to international buyers.

Here’s BusinessLIVE:

Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty chair, Lew Geffen, says international buyers are using Covid-19’s effects to their advantage as luxury and higher-priced home sellers have been willing to accept discounts on asking prices over the past few weeks.

Samuel Seeff disagrees, saying that his company hasn’t reported an increase in the number of foreign buyers investing in South African property.

“There has definitely been no rise in foreign buyers and sales to foreign buyers. On the contrary, many have put their properties on the market [and] we don’t expect foreigners to flood back to high-end areas, for example, Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard, to any significant degree any time soon.”

The high-end property market was struggling long before the pandemic. At the end of last year, prime areas such as Green Point, Sea Point, and the Waterfront saw a sharp decline in sales. On the upside, local buyers could be looking at a reduction in prices for high-end properties.

As for the rest of us – maybe Millennials will finally be able to buy that house after all, if they haven’t lost their jobs.

[source:businesstech&businesslive]