Pandemic exacerbates decline in property deals

CAPE TOWN – Covid-19’s effect on the property market was already felt in the first quarter, as bond registrations had already fallen 5.6percent compared with the same period in 2019, while the number of property transfers fell 10percent.

RE/MAX of Southern Africa chief executive Adrian Goslett said yesterday that while the lockdown started at the end of last month, Lightstone Property data showed 37609 bond registrations were recorded at the Deeds Office from January to March, a 5.6percent year-on-year decline and a 1.2percent decrease compared with the fourth quarter last year.

The number of transfers – bonded and unbonded – at the Deeds Office in the period fell to 51315, a 10.5percent decrease from last year and an 18.7percent decline the last quarter of 2019.

Sectional titles, previously one of the strongest segments in an already weak property market, seemed to have been affected the worst.

The national median price of sectional title homes dropped 8.2percent to R963971 from the R1049810 in the first quarter last year, and it fell by 5.9percent from the fourth quarter last year.