Affordable housing in South Africa: how is the market doing?

This is a presentation given to the International Housing Solutions Industry Conference, on 19 September 2013, in Johannesburg.  The presentation uses CAHF’s CityMark tool to analyse the performance of South Africa’s residential property market, with a specific emphasis on affordable housing markets.  Lender performance is also assessed.  The analysis suggests that affordable market areas are more stable, they are active, and they are growing, providing a buffer to the more volatile high value market.  Affordable areas also hold considerable equity.  As supply (both in terms of new build and the resale market) is insufficient, there is a substantial opportunity for growth and investment.   It is clear that lenders persist in the high value market – and the impact of the Financial Sector Charter is also evident in the data.  The presentation also offers a new approach towards gauging affordability, and highlights information gaps that still need to be overcome.