A penthouse in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town sold for R45 million.
* *The low interest rate seemed to have little impact on the luxury housing market, but this seems to be changing.*
* *There has also been in increase in foreign buyers looking for and buying property in SA.*
* *The March Lightstone Residential Property Index shows that annual house price inflation was 4.0% at the end of February 2021 signifying a positive increase from the previous month.*
Luxury homes are back in demand in South Africa, according to Megan Ladbrook, general manager of Frankie Bells Real Estate, which specialises in luxury real estate.
The agency defines luxury homes as those priced from R3 million upwards. They are seeing an increased demand in the Northern suburbs of Gauteng, southern suburbs of Cape Town and in coastal towns such as Ballito, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay.
`While the low repo rate has driven demand amongst first-time home buyers and buyers in the low to mid-price range, it has had little effect on the luxury housing market,` says Ladbrook. In her view, however, this is about to change.
`As investor confidence begins to rise, global statistics released by Luxury Portfolio International (LPI) has indicated that between 30% and 50% of high net-worth individuals are planning to buy at least one additional luxury property in the next year â€` compared to just 20% last year,` she adds..
At the same time, it is important to remember that the luxury market has taken a knock in terms of asking price.
`We have seen homes go for as much as 30% less than the initial asking price,` she says. `We are dealing with a surplus of luxury homes on the market. Key drivers for the sales of these homes include so-called samigration between provinces, the need to upscale or downscale, and emigration,` she explained.
In addition, a number of properties used as Airbags are now up for grabs. These homes are usually well kept and well located. Among South Africa buyers, gated communities and lifestyle estates remain in high demand. In addition, those with extra money and looking to take advantage of the low interest rates are now investing in holiday
homes.
*Foreign buyers*
According to Samuel Seeff, chair of the Seeff Property

Group, it has seen increased activity from foreign buyers at the high-end price levels. One such example is the sale of a R45 million penthouse in Cape Town`s Waterfront area to a German buyer.
The group also recently sold a R36 million property in Fresnaye, Cape Town to a buyer from the United Arab Emirates and two sales of more than R20 million each in Constantia Upper to buyers from Zimbabwe and Malawi respectively.`Overall, sales to foreign buyers across Cape Town`s Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl are 36% higher compared to 2019 and is the highest in the past three years. Almost one third of all high value sales have been to foreign buyers,` says Seeff.
`While the luxury areas are doing exceptionally well in the price bands to around R5 million to R8 million (R18 million on the Atlantic Seaboard), sales in the R20 million-plus sector remains well below what it was in 2017. That said, sales are taking place across the board in the high-end areas from Zimbali to Plettenberg Bay and Cape Town as well as in certain Gauteng locations.` He explains that, generally, the market remains driven by the low interest rate with the highest volume of activity still below R3 million as first-time buyers continue taking advantage, but they are also seeing buyers upgrading, or investing or relocating for a better quality of life. At the top end of the market, buyers can find great value given that prices of properties, often not seen before, are now at about 20% to 30% lower compared to 2017, according to Seeff.
The March Lightstone Residential Property Index shows that annual house price inflation was 4.0% at the end of February 2021 signifying a positive increase from the previous month. According to the index report, this optimism is evident at provincial level and the different value bands with the exception of the low-value segment (properties of less than R250 000). This is because the historically low interest rate has enabled both the participation in the higher value market for new homeowners and the ability to upgrade for low-value homeowners.
www.samigration.com V.3544

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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