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LOCKDOWN Issue 2020
P R O P E RT Y
HIGH HOPES property will bounce back The economy, already in the doldrums, has been battered by Covid-19. Does this mean residential developers and estate agents will shut up shop and go home?
ground to a halt and preliminary data showed that volumes plummeted by around 60% yearon-year in April. FNB estimates suggest that GDP could contract by between 7% and 10%. This implies employment loss of at least 750 000. But, a raft of policies adopted to support
the economy could help limit damage and set the stage for a rebound once the shock passes. “We expect house prices will decline by around 5% and transaction volumes by around 45% this year. In comparison, prices declined by an average 1,5% and transaction volumes by
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ar from it. If the mood of property pundits is a reliable gauge, the sector might prove to be among the most resilient in the regional economy. They would talk it up, you’d say they have everything to lose if they don’t. There’s no doubt, the data is bleak, prices will fall and margins will narrow, but the well-worn cliché about “location, location, location” has never been more apt. KwaZulu-Natal – especially coastal property and secure, gated living – could prove resilient. FNB property economist, Siphamandla Mkhwanazi, says the impact of the lockdown is yet to be felt on the property market, but annual house price growth fell to 1,9% in April, down from 2,5% in March – the slowest pace since December 2009. Since the lockdown, market activity has almost
ABOVE: CHRIS TYSON OF TYSON PROPERTIES PREDICTS THE MARKET IS IN FOR SOME TOUGH TIMES. ABOVE RIGHT: CHARLES THOMPSON, A DEVELOPER OF KEY PROJECTS, INCLUDING LARGE TRACTS OF THE SIBAYA PRECINCT, NORTH OF UMHLANGA.
around 40% in 2009 during the global financial crisis.” Chris Tyson of Tyson Properties predicted the market was in for “some very tough times”. The economy was already under pressure before the pandemic and there would be a lot of uncertainty about job security that will
