{"id":845561,"date":"2025-12-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845561"},"modified":"2025-12-25T06:44:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:44:26","slug":"the-stress-free-city-booming-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/845561\/the-stress-free-city-booming-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘stress-free’ city booming in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bloemfontein is the most affordable city to live in, with its low house prices attracting first-time buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With most residential transactions in the R500,000 to R1 million range, Bianca Jonker, licensee for Seeff Bloemfontein, said that the city has one of the highest ratios of first-time buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local property market has been robust, with Seeff sales growth from January to August up by 19% and rentals up by 8% year-on-year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Mortgage originator ooba also reported a 9.5% rise in mortgage loan applications, with 48% of the market comprising first-time buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonker said that Bloemfontein has a  \u201cbig city, small town\u201d vibe due to its lack of traffic congestion and a laid-back, community-focused lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city also offers a good quality of life and excellent affordability, appealing to a broad demographic of first-time buyers, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city also attracts families, retirees, students, legal, medical and other professionals, public sector employees, politicians, business executives and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonker stated that the local market’s vitality is also supported by the increasing number of female entrepreneurs who are homeowners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future outlook for the metro includes planned infrastructure upgrades and new residential and student housing developments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has sustained opportunities for investors, buyers, and sellers across diverse property types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemfontein is also the judicial capital and home to the Supreme Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also characterised by a strong academic tradition, and is home to the University of the Free State and CUT, as well as prestigious schools like Grey College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also home to major hospitals, government services, and a robust business sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property trends\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Roughly one-third of all transactions in the Free State originate from Bloemfontein, totalling R3.56 billion in the 12-month period ending October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property prices in the city have grown by 26% over the last decade and 14.3% in the previous five years. Seeff said that this maintains competitive affordability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property stock is dominated by freehold at 62.84%, sectional titles at 33.54%, and estates, which constitute approximately 4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27% of buyers are under 35 years of age, and 42% under 50 years, reflecting strong participation by new entrants into the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average purchase price for first-time buyers is R960,000, with sectional titles starting from around R600,000 and houses from R1.2 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More affluent northern suburbs, like Heuwelsig, Pentagon Park, Waverley, and Summerton, feature house prices typically in the R2 million to R3 million range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top end of the market is concentrated in the Woodland Hills Estate, which is part of the Berg en Dal area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It attracts high-income buyers, including politicians, business executives and professionals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate covers 1,000 hectares with over 5,000 properties. The estate also features wildlife, a community centre, sports facilities, stables, an outdoor gym, trails, and retail options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices in the estate start at R4 million, ranging up to R10 million, and sectional titles are available from R2.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not only sales that are attractive, but the robust retail market also offers affordable monthly rentals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PayProp indicates an average of R7,500, with inflation outpacing growth at 7.7%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rates begin from R3,800 for small units, with northern suburbs ranging from R7,00 to R11,000 and a top rate of R18,000. Rents in Woodland Hills can reach R99,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonker added that the shortage of rental stock presents significant investment opportunities, including student accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bloemfontein Images <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Grey College<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Woodland Hills Estate<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Woodland Hills Estate<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Woodland Hills Estate<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Woodland Hills Estate<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloemfontein’s property market remains the cheapest among all of South Africa’s metros, making it incredibly popular with young buyers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":845572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[5829,10773],"class_list":["post-845561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-ooba","tag-seeff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845561","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=845561"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846786,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845561\/revisions\/846786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}