How drought affected Cape Town’s property market
Just because the water crisis in Cape Town did not affect property for sale in Secunda, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t something to be learned. We take a look at how the property market was affected by Cape Town’s drought, as well as the impact it had on tourism in the province.
Although it may not affect you when looking to list your property for sale in Secunda, it is interesting to note how the Cape Town water crisis had an impact on the property market.
At the start of 2018, the province suffered a lack of stock and gave a number of buyers cold feet. This was confirmed by Harold Kolnik, who is the principal of Jawitz Properties in the South Peninsula. He was, however, happy to note that midway through July, stocks began to replenish and that some good rain over winter had created a big difference.
In July, Cape Town revealed that the dams were over 50% full once again, which ensured that there would be water security for at least two years.
However, there was and still is some damage control to deal with in the market, as it not only affected buyers looking at the province, but also the tourism industry on a whole.
There were lower holiday rentals recorded during the drought, and a number of regular visitors are still not aware of how things have changed over the last few months.
The lack of buyers also led to a spike in rental interest, with a lot of new long-term rentals coming into the market.
There is a positive to the disaster though, with residents taking their own measures to become savvier with their water usage, as well as putting measures in place to use grey water, or collecting rain water in tanks. Water is expected to become one of the most valuable resources in the world in the future, so this sets a good example for future generations.
Another interesting factor was the fact that foreign buyers were not really put off by drought. There was actually an increase in foreign sales over the last five years.
