Saldanha Bay Property Market - 2018 Property Sales Report
Saldanha is the smaller of the two towns along the Langebaan lagoon in the West Coast region of the Western Cape and has 6 030 freehold properties and 86 sectional title properties. The town's demographics include a population of 22 765 adults with an average household income ranging between R9 000 to R17 000 (LSM 4 - LSM 7 Low).
Owner Profile / Demographics.
An interesting shift took place during the last 12 months within the age brackets of the stable owners relative to recent buyers and sellers - possibly pointing to the fact that Saldanha offers a big choice of entry level or more affordable housing for first time buyers in the region. Only 6% of the "stable owners" are between 18 to 35 years old - whilst more than a 3rd (or 38%) of the recent buyers and only 2% of the recent sellers fall into this age group bracket. Saldanha is also attracting a high percentage (91%) of buyers below retirement age of which 62% is younger 50 - whilst only 9% are older than 64.
Property Sales In Saldanha - Property Market Size
The contracting South African economy has during the 2017/8 period affected the Saldanha Bay property market sales volumes negatively - especially relative to the record 526 registrations achieved during 2016 (which was more than double the 266 sales achieved during the 2008 boom phase in the South African property market and more than 5 times the "record low point" of 2009). The monthly property sales has dropped by about 43% in the last 2 years from 44 registrations p.m. (2016) to 25 p.m. (2018) - alternatively from 526 registrations (2016) per year to an expected 305 during 2018.
Sales dropped by 22,4% per month during 2017 to 34 properties sold per month (408 p.a.) and for the first 10 months of 2018 with a further 25,4% to 25,4 sold p.m. (254 sales from January 2018 to October 2018).
Sectional title units forms a very small part of the Saldanha property market sales volumes with only 56 sales taking place between 2010 and 2018.
The Saldanha property market experienced very suppressed sales volumes between 2009 and 2014 - reflected by only 100 property sales in 2009, 168 in 2010, 163 (2011), 150 (2012), 138 (2013) and 181 sales during 2014.
Capital Growth
Despite the contraction of the Saldanha property market's sale volumes during 2018, capital growth, measured by the rise in median prices achieved, has been positive.
Sectional title property prices increased during 2018 by 4,3% from R635 000 to R662 000, and vacant land (erven) by 19,4% from R155 000 to R185 000. Capital growth achieved between 2010 and 2018 was for sectional title properties (apartments) 100,6% or 12,6% per year and for vacant land 32,1% or 4% per year.
During the period 2007 and 2014 a surge in sales in execution created a negative price growth pattern with executions rising from 7 units in 2006 to respectively 42 and 61 units per year in 2009 and 2010. During this period erf or vacant land prices dropped from R300 000 (2008) to R140 000 (2010) and sectional title units from R440 000 to R330 000.
This pattern has been dramatically reversed during the last 8 years - where sales in execution dropped from 30 in 2010 to only 2 sales in execution during 2018.
Saldanha Real Estate Market - Property Prices Analysis
A price range analysis of Saldanha property sales reveals that the majority of the freehold homes repeat sales (excluding those build in estates and excluding vacant erven and also not including new developments), took place in the price range of R800 000 to R1,5 million - 49 transactions during the last 12 months (November 2017 - October 2018). The 2nd and 3rd most active market segment was respectively between R400 000 to R800 000 with 26 sales and between R0 and R400 000 (23 sales). There was only 10 sales between R1,5 million and R3 million at an average price of R1,836 million and only 1 sale in the price range of more than R3 million for R3,5 million.
Inside estates, 6 freehold homes were sold in the price range R400 000 to R800 000 at an average of R720 000 and 12 were sold in the price range R800 000 to R1,5 million (average price of R957 000).
New developments - 86 of the 87 new development freehold homes were sold for less than R400 000 - in fact at an average price of R118 000. Only one house in a new development sold in the price range between R400 000 and R800 000 - and for R750 000.
In the sectional title market only 4 units got sold during the last 12 months - 3 units got sold between R400 000 and R800 000 at an average price of R660 000. Only 1 other sectional title unit got sold for R900 000. Only 1 new (first time registration) sectional title unit sold for R600 000 during the last 12 months.
72 Residential vacant land (erven) sold as repeat sales in the last 12 months - of which 29 were inside an estate and sold for an average of R209 000. Of the other 43 pieces of vacant land (erven outside of estates), 40 got sold for an average of R155 000. Only 3 sold within the price range of R400 000 to R800 000 for an average price of R537 000.
There were 10 vacant erfs which sold in new developments during the last 12 months - 2 sold at an average price of R182 000 (inside an estate) and 8 sold at an average price of R94 000 outside of an estate.
If you are looking to buy or sell a property in Saldanha or would like to know more about the town's lifestyle, please contact our local specialist estate agent Marlene Goosen to assist you - marlene@cch.co.za / 082 458 7552 .