It's time to embrace the 'champion mindset'
Category From Our CEO
Hello Everyone
The SA property market is obviously in some turmoil following eight consecutive interest rate increases which have put many home sellers and prospective buyers under severe financial pressure. The banks have recently also tightened their lending criteria, making it more difficult to secure home loans, especially without a deposit.
However, this is not an unfamiliar scenario in SA, and we at Chas Everitt know that tough times can be quite advantageous for those who adopt a "champion mindset" to find opportunities in adversity rather than just following the crowd.
For example, the increased amount of stock on the market right now means it's a good time to buy a home or invest in rental property since you will most likely be able to negotiate a very good price. In addition, the demand for rental homes is rising rapidly, and availability in this sector is still constrained due to the slow pace of new development since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
What's more, there are attractive investment opportunities available in all provinces, depending on the purchaser's needs - but also depending at this stage on the state of any particular local government and its ability to deliver services efficiently. This has become a critical factor in many purchasing decisions and is most evident in the Western Cape, where many well-run towns along the West Coast, the Whale Coast and Garden Route, as well as Cape Town itself, are currently enjoying strong inward migration and record property sales.
SA's fast rate of urbanisation and the strong shift to remote working also hold promise for property investors (see below), and the rapid rise of e-commerce and online shopping has created new investment opportunities in the commercial and industrial property sectors, particularly in logistics and distribution centres in Gauteng and around the ports of Richards Bay, Durban, East London and Nelson Mandela Bay.
As always, though, it is vital for buyers and investors to view properties, research areas thoroughly and carefully look at affordability - with the help of qualified, experienced and understanding property professionals - before they make any decisions.
Meanwhile, our advice to property sellers at the moment is to also work very closely with their Chas Everitt agents to determine whether they really need to sell right now, and if so, how to fine-tune their price expectations and access all our national and global marketing platforms to ensure a successful sale.
Our agents have the latest market intelligence on your area at their fingertips, but more than that, they also have a "champion mindset" and will make full use of their expertise and our superior technology to give our customers a competitive advantage - because they understand that transactions concluded during this phase of the market can have a particularly large and lasting impact on people's lives and future finances.
And that mindset is the difference between the real professionals in our industry and the others, who always tend to fade away when the going gets tough, instead of making the effort to work even smarter and think even harder to find solutions that will result in a positive outcome and a good experience for their customers. But that's exactly what we're still doing, backed by more than 40 years of experience of successfully navigating the market downs as well as the ups. So talk to one of our agents today before you do anything else about buying, selling or renting a property.
Warm property regards
Author: Berry Everitt