{"id":705945,"date":"2023-07-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=705945"},"modified":"2023-07-24T06:34:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:34:08","slug":"rich-south-africans-are-selling-up-to-emigrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/705945\/rich-south-africans-are-selling-up-to-emigrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Rich South Africans are selling up to emigrate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wealthy South Africans are packing their bags and selling their houses to emigrate, quarterly property data shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to FNB\u2019s Estate Agency Survey Q2 2023, the percentage of South Africans selling their houses to emigrate grows substantially as income increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the number of South Africans who indicated they were selling their houses to emigrate stood at 9.0% in the second quarter of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This average, however, is brought down by the relatively smaller percentage of &#8220;lower-income&#8221; households looking to emigrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As income levels increase, the emigration indicator also rises, pointing to wealthier households leaving the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, for those earning between R250,000 and R500,000, the main reason for selling is to downscale due to financial pressures, which stands at 41.5%. This is far higher than the 0.9% for emigration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"7Awu960x11\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/705879\/south-africas-middle-class-is-drowning-in-debt-and-stresses-are-mounting\/\">South Africa&#8217;s middle class is drowning in debt &#8211; and stresses are mounting<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;South Africa&#8217;s middle class is drowning in debt &#8211; and stresses are mounting&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/705879\/south-africas-middle-class-is-drowning-in-debt-and-stresses-are-mounting\/embed\/#?secret=bUykNqF3Y2#?secret=7Awu960x11\" data-secret=\"7Awu960x11\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, for sellers who earn between R1.6 million and R2.6 million, 10.9% said that they were selling to emigrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is even higher for the R2.6 million to R3.6 million income bracket, where 19.0% said they were selling to emigrate &#8211; the second highest reason for selling after downscaling for lifestyle purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those in the highest income bracket &#8211; over R3.6 million &#8211; emigration was the motivation for 16.1% of sales, which again was only beaten by the 26.7% for downscaling with lifestyle.  <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/reasons-for-selling-fnb-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"902\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/reasons-for-selling-fnb-.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-705949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/reasons-for-selling-fnb-.jpg 902w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/reasons-for-selling-fnb--300x119.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/reasons-for-selling-fnb--768x304.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 902px) 100vw, 902px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Tracking emigration numbers in South Africa is not officially done, but evidence shows that wealthy South Africa are moving abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/691129\/rich-south-africans-are-packing-their-bags-and-taking-billions-in-tax-with-them\/\" target=\"_blank\">latest data<\/a>&nbsp;from SARS, 40,500 taxpayers have ended their tax residency in South Africa over the last five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a parliamentary Q&amp;A in May 2023, finance minister Enoch Godongwana estimated that approximately 2,700 of these individuals made more than R500,000 per year, with a further 1,100 earning more than R1 million per year. This amounts to R1.3 billion in assessed tax that South Africa is losing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, the latest Wealth Migration Report 2023 from Henley &amp; Partners said 400 High Net-Worth Individuals &#8211; those with a net worth of over US$1 million (roughly R18 million) &#8211; emigrated in 2022, with a further 500 expected to leave in 2023 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Why are South Africans leaving <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several reasons South Africans are leaving the country, with <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/696173\/big-jump-in-south-africans-looking-to-emigrate-heres-why-and-where-they-want-to-go\/\" target=\"_blank\">JP Breytenbach<\/a>, the Director of Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, citing the lack of growth opportunities as a driving factor for emigration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breytenbach added that a recent spike in diplomatic and political instability has led to a spike in emigration queries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is evident that with each political tension event in South Africa, the number of enquiries about moving abroad jumps significantly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These events comprise of political tension, the chance of new legislation that could be seen as harmful by some, economic uncertainty, and politically-linked violence like the July 2021 unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Where are South Africans going <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest United Nations&#8217; International Migration Stock Report showed that the UK has the largest migrant stock in South Africa, with nearly 250,000 people listing South Africa as their birth country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Australia, the USA and New Zealand all follow the UK in terms of the size of their South African diaspora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breytenbach said that the reason these countries have a large South African migrant stock is that they have made changes to their immigration system to attract skilled individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that the UK is a popular emigration destination for South Africans due a few reasons: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No language or cultural barriers;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Easy to fly between South Africa and the UK;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The UK is the hub of economic activity in Europe; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A large number of South Africans already live in the UK.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/705013\/uk-visa-price-hikes-this-is-how-much-more-south-africans-will-pay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UK visa price hikes \u2013 this is how much more South Africans will pay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FNB\u2019s Estate Agency Survey Q2 2023 shows that many rich South Africans are selling their properties as they are moving overseas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":645191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[76,26],"class_list":["post-705945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-fnb","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705945"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706294,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705945\/revisions\/706294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}