South African real estate starts to slump

A recently released study covering property in South Africa show that the cost of residential real estate has increased by more than 160 per cent during the last ten years but economic pressure has started to effect market activity.

After several years of strong economic growth across the South Africa real estate markets house prices are beginning to stagnate as the economy faces the challenges of high unemployment.

A report from Lloyds TSB International show that price gains across property in South Africa ranked in the top three behind Russia and India for the greatest price gains across the globe during the last decade.

Several leading agents agree that activity has slowed across the property markets and high inflation is expected to put further downward pressure on house prices. Unemployment rates grew to more than 23 per cent towards the end of last year and the months ahead are expected to bring further price falls.