South Africans wave Johannesburg goodbye

Residential property sales volumes in Cape Town edged ahead of Johannesburg in 2021 and have outsold South Africa’s economic capital since then.

Lightstone data recently revealed that Cape Town’s property market is outperforming Joburg’s in terms of both sales price and volume.

Lightstone managing executive of real estate Hayley Ivins-Downes said in terms of the average price paid, Cape Town outperformed Johannesburg in all six years analysed by Lightstone, from 2019 to 2024.

“In addition, homeowners spent more to buy their houses in Cape Town than in Johannesburg – and the gap had widened,” Ivins-Downes said.

The data confirmed the relative strength of Cape Town’s residential property market when compared to Johannesburg in recent years.

In addition to sales volumes in Cape Town edging ahead of Johannesburg in 2021, the Mother City’s sales volumes in 2024 were higher than in pre-Covid 2019, while Johannesburg’s numbers were down from 2019.

Ivins-Downes said the total sales value of properties in Cape Town has been higher since 2019, but the gap has widened since 2022.

In 2024, the value of property sales in Cape Town was just over R81 billion, up from nearly R74 billion in 2021, while in Johannesburg, it fell to just over R47 billion from R59 billion in 2021.

Lightstone also measured which group of people was buying properties in Cape Town.

“The percentage of buyers in Cape Town who had previously had a property in the city – and were natural persons – had dropped from 77% recorded in 2021, although the 72% recorded in 2024 was marginally up on the 71% in 2023”, she said.

But the picture was more revealing when looking at buyers from outside Cape Town but still within the Western Cape, and then at buyers from other provinces.

The data showed that the percentage of buyers from other towns in the Western Cape was on the rise.

Buyers of property in Cape Town who came from other provinces jumped from around 16% in 2021 to 19% in 2022 and then to just over 20% in 2023 before coming back to marginally under 20% in 2024.

Looking at which suburbs sold the best, The Hague, a section of Delft, a large township adjacent to the Cape Town International Airport, was the top seller in terms of volumes.

“More than 1,000 properties were sold at an average of just more than R133,000, while Sea Point was next in volume of sales at just under 750 properties, at an average sales price of R3.8 million,” Ivins-Downes said.

“Next was Sandown in Blouberg at 590 sales at an average of R1.8 million.”

Of the top ten suburbs in terms of number of sales, four had an average sales price under R1 million, and just two had an average sales price under R500,000.

Llandudno topped the list at R26 million for average price sales, followed by Bishopscourt and Goedehoop Estate. Sea Point, Fresnaye and Cape Town’s centre were the areas which had recorded the most in terms of total sales value.

In terms of estates, Sitari Country Estate was the province’s big seller in 2024, with 280 sales at an average of R2.9 million.

Burgundy Estate in Milnerton was next with 261 sales and an average sales price of R1.5 million, and Stellendale Village in Kuilsrivier was third with 186 sales and an average sales price of R900,000.

Ivins-Downes said the highest average sales price of R26.7 million in 2024, where there were at least three sales, was recorded in Silverhurst Estate, just off the Constantia Main Road in the southern suburbs.

This was followed by De Goede Hoop in Noordhoek, which had an average sale price of R21 million, and Waters Edge Estate in Milnerton at R20 million.

Notably, the V&A Waterfront Marina was also one of the highest-value estates – with an average sales price of R15 million – and sold an impressive 46 properties during the period, bringing the total value of its sales to R677 million.