![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/House-vs-car-prices.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n“Comparing property and vehicle prices from 1999 to 2018, it is peculiar to see the cost of these two assets essentially on par in 1999. Fast forward to 2018 where an average priced property is almost 2.5 times more expensive than a new vehicle,” said Lightstone’s Heinrich Coetzee.<\/p>\n
“This finding is largely attributed to supply and demand, where properties have become sound investments and vehicles lose their value fairly quickly,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said that more properties were sold at a cheaper price point in 1999 compared to fewer properties sold at a higher price point in 2018.<\/p>\n
According to Coetzee, although the data would need to be segmented according to the different types of buyers of the market, it can be assumed that the shift in purchasing behaviour over the last 10 years can be ascribed to the economic pressure the middle segment of the market faces.<\/p>\n
“(This) wouldn\u2019t necessarily affect the higher end of the market that continue to purchase property at higher price points,” Coetzee said.<\/p>\n
Automotive industry<\/strong><\/p>\n Lightstone’s data showed that while the motoring industry has seen significant changes over the last two decades, there have been several focus areas that have shown only slight variations.<\/p>\n New vehicle dealers in South Africa reflected an upward trend from a base of 1,600 dealers in 1999 to 2,100 dealers in 2014, but then declined to 1,700 in 2018.<\/p>\n Dealerships have declined during the same period from 450 in 1999 to 350 in 2018.<\/p>\n Over the last twenty years, brands have also aggressively increased their number of model variations, body shapes and vehicle brand entries into the market.<\/p>\n “With the increase in the number of vehicle brands over the past 20 years, it is to be expected that the vehicle models will also increase exponentially. New vehicle sales experienced a slight increase in 2007 \u2013 2008 before the international financial crisis which resulted in a global and local recession,” Lightstone said.<\/p>\n The commercial market peaked in 2009 \u2013 2010 when South Africa played host to the Soccer World Cup where the demand for trade vehicles increased.<\/p>\n
\n