The Western Cape is the province that South Africans are moving to if they are switching provinces, according to data from Lightstone Property.

Hayley Ivins-Downes, Managing Executive Real Estate at the property data firm, said: “The Western Cape is the preferred choice for those switching provinces, with the majority of its entrants (3,500) making the journey from Gauteng and 870 arriving from KwaZulu-Natal.”

Around 1,600 homeowners from the six other provinces went to Gauteng, with a similar number going to the Western Cape.

The table below shows the 15 towns receiving the most semigrants and the 15 losing the most.

According to Ivins-Downes, in 2023, 50,000 homeowners participated in the sell-to-buy market.

Gauteng and the Western Cape dominated this market, accounting for 48% and 23% of transactions, which is just over 70% of the market. The remaining seven provinces made up the balance.

Of the homeowners who sell and then buy a new home, 27% of them choose to do so in a different province, an increase from 16% in 2019.

Ivins-Downes said: “Most sell-to-buy homeowners stay in the same province, although the proportion has dipped across eight of the country’s nine provinces when comparing 2018/9 to 2023/4, with just the Western Cape holding its ground (down to 87% from 89%).”

“Repeat buyers staying in the same province fell by 10% in Gauteng, 9% in the Eastern Cape and Free State, 13% in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, and 15% in Limpopo.”

According to Lightstone, the Western Cape is the best performer in the sell-to-buy category when it comes to the value of properties.

The Western Cape gets:

– more than 65% of transactions in the R2 million to R3 million price band

– more than 70% of transactions in the R3 million to R4 million and R4 million to R5 million price bands

– more than 85% of transactions in the R5 million and above price bands.

Lightstone shows that 70% of homeowners that move to the Western Cape end up in higher value properties.

IOL Property