South Africa Property For Sale

The Republic of South Africa at the southern tip of the continent of Africa borders both the Atlantic and Indian oceans. To the north of South Africa lie Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland, while the Kingdom of Lesotho is an independent enclave surrounded by South African territory.

South Africa is known for its diversity, and eleven official languages are recognised in its constitution with English the most commonly spoken language - the South African population was estimated at 47.9 million. South Africa is a middle-income country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange (the JSE Limited), that ranks among the top twenty in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centres throughout the entire region.

Principal international trading partners of South Africa — besides other African countries — include Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Chief exports include corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals and minerals, sugar, and wool. Machinery and transportation equipment make up more than one-third of the value of the country’s imports. Other imports include chemicals, manufactured goods, and petroleum.

Following the past decade of continuous growth, political stability and economic strength in South Africa, foreign property investors have taken a keen interest in the country. The initiatives of the government for promoting foreign investment and tourism have enabled additional security and confidence to overseas buyers.

The South African property market slowed down in the past 18 months along with other world markets, yet to a lesser extent. Increases in borrowing interest rates, along with stricter criteria for financial lending assisted in slowing down the property market. These methods have been enforced to avoid a severe crash as seen in other world markets, effectively functioning with a limited fall in the sector.

Due to the nature of the South Africa property sector, long term potential is assured. The huge growth of the internal market, strengthening economy, tourism growth and rental demands enable future expansion and stability.