Estate agents are showing renewed sales optimism, with 85% confident they will meet their value targets, according to a Lightstone survey.
This follows a difficult year for many agents, who experienced a slowdown in activity, but the outlook now suggests a potential market recovery. Last year, only a third of estate agents met their sales targets in both volume and value, a slight dip from the previous year’s performance.
The economy in the past year has been tough for many estate agents, with nearly 61% reporting they fell short of their sales volume targets in 2024, an increase from 45% in 2023.
Lightstone’s annual sentiment survey among estate agents also found that while economic uncertainty remained a priority issue, it was viewed as marginally less important than 12 months previously, indicating increased confidence in the government of national unity’s stewardship of the economy.
“Estate agents say younger buyers will play an increasingly important role in SA’s residential property market in 2025, as will unemployment and political certainty,” reads the survey.
Despite falling short last year, estate agents are optimistic about a stronger performance in 2025, with 86% anticipating they will meet their sales volume targets and 85% expecting to hit their sales value goals.
According to the survey, downscaling because of lifestyle changes was the main reason for selling, followed by downscaling due to financial difficulties and relocating to another province (16%) or city or town (11%). Sellers emigrating dropped from 16% to 9%.
Spurred on by factors such as additional interest rate cuts, better economic prospects, improved affordability and more stability, we strongly believe that demand for property in 2025 will reach levels exceeding those seen in recent years.
— Rhys Dyer, Ooba home loans CEO
“Lifestyle and amenities, and security, top the wish list of home buyers — but the categories have traded places, with 33% (25% in 2023) saying lifestyle and amenities were most important with security next at 19% (33% in 2023). Working from home remained constant at 19% while buy-to-rent has nearly doubled from 6% to 11%,” reads the survey.
Ooba home loans CEO Rhys Dyer speculates that with more rate cuts soon to follow, home-buying will strengthen further. “Spurred on by factors such as additional interest rate cuts, better economic prospects, improved affordability and more stability, we strongly believe that demand for property in 2025 will reach levels exceeding those seen in recent years.”
Dyer said that the market reacted quickly to the 25 basis points interest rate cut announced in September 2024, with Ooba Home Loans reporting a 16% year-on-year increase and a 27% month-on-month surge in volume in October.
Demand from first-time homebuyers gained momentum, with home loan applications rising from a midyear low of 45.2% to 46.9% by December 2024.
“This data indicates that the first-time homebuyer segment is poised for a strong year, primarily fuelled by lower interest rates,” said Dyer.
Analysing regional trends, Dyer said: “Last year, our data revealed that demand was highest in the three most affordable regional housing markets: Free State (57.9%), Mpumalanga (54.0%), and Gauteng south & east (52.3%). These were the only regions where first-time homebuyers represented more than half of all applications received.”
Citing the latest data from Stats SA which revealed a notable decline in approved building plans for the City of Cape Town, Dyer said there is a high concentration of high-value activity taking place in sought-after coastal towns such as Knysna.
“Knysna, and other smaller, more affordable coastal towns like George, are on a sharp upward trajectory that is set to gain momentum in 2025.”
However, the downward trend of semigration to Cape Town is largely driven by rising costs, congestion and challenges such as long school waiting lists, said Dyer. Lightstone’s data supports this, illustrating a sharp drop off in Western Cape semigration in the first half of 2024 compared to the peak of the movement in 2022.
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