To build or not to build?

When starting your quest to find property for sale in Pretoria East, you may come to a point where you ask yourself whether building your dream home may be better than buying one.

This decision is not an easy one, and often the cost of building could be the deciding factor. To assist with this, we take a look at some of the information coming out from Statistics South Africa regarding the cost of construction per square metre.

The stats released offered an insight into what it will cost you to building a home in all of the provinces in South Africa. Interestingly, the North West proved to be the cheapest in terms of construction costs at R5060 per m2.

This cost is significantly lower than the province at the top of the pile, which is KwaZulu-Natal. Building your dream home in this coastal province is likely to set you back around R9610 per m2.

Gauteng ranks as the second most expensive province on the list with the average construction cost here being at R7870 per m2, just over R800 more expensive than one would pay in the Western Cape – which is in third place.

Adrian Goslett, who is the regional director and CEO of RE/MAX Southern Africa, admits that it is quite a surprise looking at the top three.

“While it is unsurprising to discover which provinces are the most affordable, it is interesting to discover that KwaZulu-Natal is more expensive than the bustling metropoles of Gauteng and the Western Cape where one has come to expect to pay a premium on most living expenses.”

Part of the reason for differing prices in terms of construction across provinces is the availability of building materials as well as the cost of labour. And in terms of the provinces that had the most approved building plans, Western Cape was at the top with Gauteng following in second place.