{"id":872132,"date":"2026-08-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872132"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:33:49","slug":"the-one-province-in-south-africa-where-the-rich-are-buying-homes-for-over-r4-5-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/872132\/the-one-province-in-south-africa-where-the-rich-are-buying-homes-for-over-r4-5-million\/","title":{"rendered":"The one province in South Africa where the rich are buying homes for over R4.5 million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans are increasingly buying luxury property in South Africa, with properties valued at over R4.5 million seeing increasing activity, especially in the Western Cape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Absa’s latest Homeowners Sentiment Index (HSI), which showed that more luxury properties are being bought in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absa said that the upper end of the residential market has seen a noticeable increase in activity over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homes valued above R4.5 million accounted for 5.2% of transactions in Q2 2026, up from 4.0% a year ago. These properties account for more than a quarter of the market by value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of this growth is coming in the Western Cape, where luxury properties account for 9.9% of transactions during the quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that close to one in 10 properties in the province now falls within the luxury segment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absa also noted that high-net-worth customers and entrepreneurs are also increasingly using legal entities to buy property, as part of broader wealth-planning considerations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal entities accounted for 27% of property market activity in the latest quarter, highlighting another feature of how wealthier buyers are approaching property ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we have seen is that consumers and investors are well aware of the ongoing economic and political shifts around them,” said Tshepo Mashashane, Head: Business Strategy at Absa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are cognisant that these changes will influence their buying power and the financial commitments of homeownership.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mashashane added that property ownership and investment remain desired goals, but the decision to enter the market is being approached more carefully and strategically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidence down – but still elevated<\/h2>\n\n\n
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While there are green shoots in the luxury segment, overall confidence in South Africa’s property market decreased slightly by one percentage point to 87% in Q2 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The softening reading comes amid uncertainty around interest rates, the economy and the political environment, impacting decisions to buy, invest in and renovate property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidence dropped in all subindices over the quarter, with buying sentiment falling by 7 percentage points, renovating by 6 points, investing by 5 points, renting by 4 points and selling by 3 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline in buying sentiment was the largest quarterly drop since Q4 2022, with respondents citing economic concerns, heightened interest rates and high property prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAffordability is the single biggest constraint on property ownership. Respondents repeatedly link the difficulty of buying and keeping property to high costs relative to income,” said Mashashane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Many cannot afford deposits, bonds and rising ongoing costs such as rates, levies, utilities and maintenance.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is causing many to delay or entirely abandon buying or deciding to downscale or sell their properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respondents also said that bond repayments, possible rate increases and strict lending criteria are stresses to entering or staying in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime and area safety were also seen as major considerations, with high crime levels associated with lower property values, difficulty selling and higher security costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many buyers prefer secure estates and better-policed areas when considering where to purchase a property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany South Africans still see property as a safe long-term investment with the potential to appreciate in value and build wealth,” added Mashashane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But that value is now being judged more carefully against factors such as location, demand, political confidence, service delivery and expectations for the future.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while confidence is down, it is still far higher than in previous years, with 87% confidence the second-highest level recorded over the last decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 88% confidence level recorded in Q1 2026 was the highest since 2016, with the concerns highlighted by Absa having only a minor impact on the confidence reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quarter<\/strong><\/td>HSI (%)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Q1 2016<\/td>73%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2016<\/td>78%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2016<\/td>83%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2016<\/td>81%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2017<\/td>75%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2017<\/td>74%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2017<\/td>81%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2017<\/td>82%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2018<\/td>75%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2018<\/td>73%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2018<\/td>72%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2018<\/td>77%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2019<\/td>73%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2019<\/td>77%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2019<\/td>75%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2019<\/td>76%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2020<\/td>73%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2020<\/td>74%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2020<\/td>76%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2020<\/td>80%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2021<\/td>81%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2021<\/td>77%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2021<\/td>82%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2021<\/td>79%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2022<\/td>81%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2022<\/td>78%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2022<\/td>82%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2022<\/td>79%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2023<\/td>73%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2023<\/td>78%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2023<\/td>81%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2023<\/td>78%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2024<\/td>82%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2024<\/td>84%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2024<\/td>84%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2024<\/td>87%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2025<\/td>85%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2025<\/td>86%<\/td><\/tr>
Q3 2025<\/td>85%<\/td><\/tr>
Q4 2025<\/td>87%<\/td><\/tr>
Q1 2026<\/td>88%<\/td><\/tr>
Q2 2026<\/td>87%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absa’s latest Homeowners Sentiment Index shows that more properties valued at over R4.5 million seeing increasing activity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":846637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2093624961688556004","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2189922985161434","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18390862585160813","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-872132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-absa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872132","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=872132"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872164,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872132\/revisions\/872164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}