Homes are selling faster in Durban – but properties are lingering longer on the market in Cape Town and Tshwane

• Durban properties are now, on average, selling much faster than they were at the beginning of the year. 
• Meanwhile, Cape Town and Tshwane homes now take nearly a week longer to be sold – yet they still spend less time on the market than houses in Durban.
• Durban also showed the largest increase in property prices in SA during this year. 
• For more stories go to the Business Insider South Africa homepage. 

It now takes considerably less time for properties in Durban to be sold, once they are put on the market, than it did at the beginning of this year, according to a new report from First National Bank.

Meanwhile properties in Cape Town and Tshwane are spending a week longer on the market before being sold than they did in the first quarter.

The FNB Property Barometer, released last week, showed that in the second quarter of 2019 it took 16.1 weeks for properties in Durban to be sold. 

(supplied, FNB)

In Cape Town houses typically sell in nearly three weeks less than that, though that period has stretched by since the beginning of 2019.

In Tshwane it took 11.4 weeks for properties to be sold in the second quarter - the fastest turnaround for any major centre in South Africa. 

However, for Tshwane the number is down from the less than 9 weeks it took to sell the average home in the first quarter of the year.

FNB economist Siphamandla Mkhwanazi attributed Durban’s improvement in selling time to a boom in developments on the North Coast, and renewed interest in the city centre. 

The buy-to-let market is particularly growing in the region, Mkhwanazi said. 

Also read: South African homes keep losing value – and will keep getting cheaper in real terms for at least a couple of months

In Nelson Mandela Bay, the second fastest selling city, properties took 13.1 weeks to be sold in the second quarter, a slight increase from close to 13 weeks in the first quarter. 

And in Johannesburg, it took 14.4 weeks for properties to be sold, making it the second slowest city for home sales, even though things have improved considerably from the 17 weeks recorded in the first quarter. 

The FNB Property Barometer is compiled from FNB’s own valuations database from properties financed over the past 18 years.

Cheaper properties can beat the average times it takes to sell considerably, data from the Pam Golding Property group, shows.

Properties priced up to R4 million take between 34 and 43.5 days to be sold, the equivalent of between 5 and 6 weeks.  

More expensive homes, worth between R4 million to R6 million, are sold in an average of 76.5 days (roughly 11 weeks) – and those priced between R6 million and R12 million take roughly 90 days, around 13 weeks.

The FNB report showed alongside Durban’s improved waiting time, the region also showed the largest increase in residential property prices in South Africa at 5.2% growth compared to the first quarter. 

Property prices in Ekurhuleni, in comparison, showed a 4.3% increase in residential property prices, 2.6% in Johannesburg, and 1.5% in Johannesburg. 

Cape Town showed the worst residential property price increase with only 0.5%.