Is this a good time to buy property in South Africa? Emphatically YES — especially if you are an overseas buyer who benefits from the relative weakness of the South African rand against major currencies.
South Africa, with its beautiful scenery, wonderful climate and appealing cities and towns offers property buyers a wide selection of very desirable properties at prices that are a bargain compared with equivalent properties in many parts of the developed world.
According to South African banks, average house prices have declined by from 1,5% to 7% over the past year, making property prices even keener for buyers with Euros, dollars or pounds.
Another bonus for foreign purchasers is that South African property ownership laws do not put any significant obstacles in the way of non-residents who wish to buy real estate in South Africa.
So, what is the catch? Are there sinister reasons for the relatively low property prices? Not at all. South Africa is a developing country and experts predict that the property market will grow for years to come as a result of the strong demand for housing by an increasing number of households and a rapidly growing middle class. The current market dip follows the introduction of laws that severely tightened bank lending, substantial interest hikes introduced to counter inflation, and the global credit crunch. Recently interest rates started dropping and further reductions are expected. urine test . earth friendly products . Experts are divided about when the property market will recover but are in agreement that in the medium to long term South African residential, commercial and agricultural property will continue to be a sound investment.
Some observers have cited political uncertainty as a potential threat to the long term sustainability of the South African property market. “What if South Africa adopted Zimbabwe-style land seizure policies?” they ask. But there is no evidence to support such fears. Comcast Specials . On the contrary, South Africa is among the top 25% of countries globally who boast a positive relationship between the protection of property rights and the country’s well-being, according to the 2009 International Property Rights Index. The Index looks at the positive effects of a country’s legal and political environment, and recognition and enforcement of physical and intellectual property rights.
A savvy international businessman from Europe who bought a game farm in South Africa last year, weighed up the attractive price of the land and a range of risk scenarios before signing on the dotted line. He concluded that as an investment opportunity South African property offered one of the world’s best tradeoffs between risk and price.
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