With an average of 9 and a half hours of sunshine each day throughout the year, buying a home you can retreat to in Kimberley would not be a bad idea. The city of diamonds is the biggest city in the Northern Cape and has a population of just over 210,000 people. The city’s Victorian and Edwardian grandeur of stately buildings complement the more modern buildings which often tower over them.
Here is an overview of Kimberley’s property market, with insights from data provided by Lightstone Property.
Property ownership structure
The data from Lightstone shows that for the period from February 2018 to January 2019, 64% of existing homeowners had been in their homes for 11 and more years; 7% of existing homeowners were in their properties for 8 to 10 years, and 18% had been in their homes for no more than 5 years.
Among recent sellers, 45% had kept their homes for 11 and more years, 10% for 8 to 10 years, and 13% had been in their properties for an average 5 to 7 years, while 31% had kept their homes for less than 5 years.
Age of owners
Among new homeowners, 6% were pensioners, 15% were aged fifty to sixty-four, 45% thirty-six to forty-nine, while 34% were millennials. In the recent sellers’ segment, 29% of homeowners were sixty-five years or older, 34% were middle-aged, and 7% were millennials. Under stable homeowners in Kimberley, as expected 28 were pensioners, 30% were middle-aged, with only 5% being millennials.
The most popular property types
Over the last 12 months a total of 440 freehold properties were sold, and a total of 57 estates, while 58 properties were recorded under sectional schemes. There is an opportunity for more property developments in the city.
Home price growth
The data shows that in 2018 home prices were at their highest, and have slightly gone down since the beginning of 2019. Property prices were the lowest in 2011, but gradually went up since then. It’s not yet clear where 2019 is headed but property prices should be more favorable for buyers this year, making it a good time to buy a new home.
Number of registrations
2014 had the highest number of registrations for freehold properties, totaling 639. Since then the number has been gradually going down. There were 540 registrations recorded in 2016, 520 in 2017 and 504 in 2018. The highest number of sectional schemes were registered in 2008, and since then the number has been going down, but it seemed to pick up again in 2018, with 69 registrations recorded.
Popular neighbourhoods for buyers
Kimberley has a number of popular suburbs that attract home buyers, these include Diamant Park, Beaconsfield, Homestead, Cassandra, Fabricia, Belgravia and many others.