Positives stack up for Jo’burg real estate market

The weather in Johannesburg may be getting colder as winter rolls in, but the city’s property market continues to heat up rapidly, driven by lower interest rates but also by a convergence of other factors that have raised its profile among local and international investors.   

So says FIRZT Realty MD Stephen Whitcombe, who notes that the company has experienced a 38% increase in the number of homes sold over the past six months, compared to the same period of 2024. “And this is not only because we opened new offices in Centurion and West Rand and attracted some outstanding teams of agents to our brand.

“Total sales value for the period under review was more than 35% up on a year ago, and agent earnings rose by an average of 75% across the whole group. In short, there are substantially more sales taking place in Johannesburg now than at any time in the past two years.

“There is higher real demand, which we see reflected in strong attendances at showdays, and this is increasingly being converted into actual sales, thanks firstly to lower inflation and somewhat lower interest rates that have increased the affordability of home ownership. In addition, the improved financial position of many households has enabled the banks to lower deposit requirements and increase home loan approvals.”

Demand is being further fuelled, he says, by a faster rate of urbanisation as young people from many other regions migrate to Gauteng and Johannesburg in particular in search of employment, and by a steady increase in the number of companies and corporates in the city returning to full-time office routines – and in the number of employees who once again want to live close to their workplaces.

“This is bringing buyers back to apartments in commercial hubs and homes in older suburbs, in a strong reversal of the Covid-19 induced flight to country and coastal living. There is a growing shortage of stock in the most popular areas as a result and at the end of the first quarter, the average selling price across all our operations showed a 6% year-on-year increase.”

Also, Whitcombe says, consumer and investor confidence in Johannesburg has steadily improved since the formation of the Government of National Unity a year ago and the more recent formation of a Presidential Working Group to tackle the city’s serious water, power, transport and safety problems. “A similar working group involving many private sector stakeholders as well as local, provincial and national government departments has achieved good results in the eThekwini metro, and the hope is that Johannesburg will soon also offer its residents an improved quality of life.        

“Meanwhile, there is also rising foreign interest in Johannesburg real estate thanks to the city’s higher international profile as the location of the G20 summit scheduled for November, and also co-host with Tshwane of the Urban 20, an international symposium where the mayors of major world cities meet to formulate policy recommendations for the G20 with regard to economic, climate, development and other issues that affect the ability of cities to function as centres of innovation and growth.

“The G20 meeting of global leaders will follow the U20, and has already put Johannesburg on the map as the first-ever African location for the event. The G20's purpose is to create a more stable and prosperous global economy through international co-operation, and its summits set the stage for many high-level trade and commercial agreements.

“This year, the G20 will not only inject millions of rands into the local economy, but also give Johannesburg the opportunity to reinforce its position as the best gateway to the lucrative and growing markets of Africa, and a great place for investors and businesses interested in those markets to base themselves.”  

 Issued by FIRZT Realty

For media inquiries, contact

Stephen Whitcombe on

082 412 2949

Or visit www.firzt.co.za

About FIRZT Realty 

Established in 2003, FIRZT Realty initially focused on residential real estate, but has since expanded to offer a broad range of services in both the residential and commercial property sectors, including sales, rentals, auctions and property management.