Taking up space in real estate

Real-estate ownership is a cornerstone of wealth for the majority of the salaried population. The ownership of property, usually financed by a mortgage, is a kind of “forced saving” and asset-finance strategy.  From a global perspective, people with a net worth in excess of US$1-million hold 27% of their wealth in real estate — a smart defensive ploy in a world shaken up by Covid.

The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa’s 2021 Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook puts homeownership by women (both alone or jointly) at 27.8% of the pool of residential property in the country, which consists of just under 6.7-million homes. With the collective value of these assets estimated at R5-trillion by the Property Charter last year, female economic clout in this sector is significant. Although joint buying (usually by couples) remains the most popular option, since 2009, single-female purchases have outstripped single-male purchases in the transactions registered at the Deeds Office by at least 10%, according to property-market data analyst Lightstone.

New housing stock is in demand by and supplied to suit the tastes of women, who tend to look for properties with amenities such as security, convenience, and proximity to elements that support a balanced lifestyle of live, work, and play. A total of 54% of purchases by women are sectional-title properties, followed by estate and stand-alone homes, according to Hayley Ivins Downes, head of digital at Lightstone. Female buyers are predominately younger (under 35) and 53% are buying properties in the R500 000-R1.5-million price range.

Mortgage lenders are seeing new homebuyers shifting off the fence post-lockdown, with first-time homebuyers looking to secure their own real estate. About 60% of mortgage applications are coming from these new entrants, and the largest single category within this group (51%) is women, with more than half aged 21-41. With the upward turn in interest rates, we’ll have to see how resilient this segment will be. The opportunities arising out of this shift in the buying population are as old as the hills. The simple rule in sales is that people buy from people whom they like and trust, and who truly understand them. Estate agencies are typically dominated by female estate agents, and this trend is unlikely to change.

The growing trend of female ownership cements the need for agents who can hold the trust of potential homeowners and ensure they feel comfortable, especially when viewing show houses. Savvy developers are getting on board with marketing channels that have tactile elements such as fully developed and furnished show units, augmented by 3D renders and online walkthroughs. In 2020, in an under-publicised judgment, the Durban High Court corrected a long-held apartheid-era anomaly with regard to female inheritance of landed assets in particular.

In this case — typical of the situation in which almost 400 000 elderly Black women find themselves — the name on the property deed was that of the husband. Upon his death, the title would not necessarily flow to the surviving spouse. The court deemed the marriages to have communal property, and the surviving spouse to have an abiding interest in that property. This is a huge step forward in cementing women’s security of tenure in the future.

South African women are thus increasingly making their property muscle felt, and it behoves agents, developers, and mortgage lenders to adjust their practices accordingly.