Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
In our last post we reported on the first-quarter sales for 2019, with the overarching theme being that sales in the 1st quarter of 2019 were down by over 27% compared to 2018; that's 103 properties sold in 2019 compared to 142 in the same period in 2018. We now take a closer look at the first half of 2019 and see if that trend continued into the second quarter.
The good news is that the first half results show a slight improvement and overall sales dropped by just over 24% with 230 properties sold in 2019 compared to 303 in 2018.
We take a look at the talking points of the Plettenberg Bay Property market for the first half of this year; you can always revert to our last post to compare the first quarter to the first half. Hopefully, it bodes well for the final quarter of this year.
Volume of sales by suburbs
Leading the way in sales volume for the first half of this year is Keurboomstrand with 54 properties sold, holding on to the number one position from last year when 58 properties sold in the same period.
Second is Seaside Longships (18 sales, 28 last year), followed by Whale Rock (16, 36 last year), Plettenberg Bay (15, 37 last year) and Brackenridge (14, 21 last year).
** In June this year, Lightstone removed the suburb of Plettenberg Bay which has now been amalgamated into the suburbs of Cutty Sark and Bowtie.
Suburbs of interest
Property Sales by Price
Only one price bracket showed an increase in volume of sales in the first 6 months of 2019 namely, the R5-7M bracket with 15 sales compared to eight last year. Five of these sales were in Keurboomstrand. Sales in the R15M + bracket remained the same. The volume of sales in all other price brackets decreased.
Sectional Title Sales in Plettenberg Bay
In the first half of this year, sectional title sales decreased by 42%, with 77 units sold compared to 132 in 2018. Freehold sales accounted for 153 properties sold in the 1st half of 2019 compared to 171 in 2018, a decrease of 11%.
Top-end sales
In the 1st half of 2019, six properties sold for more than R10m, two of which were large pieces of land bought by the Bitou Municipality for a housing development project (Ebebezer). In the 5-10M category, there were 19 sales compared to 17 last year. Five of those were in Keurboomstrand.
That's it for now, soon the year will be over and we'll start the cycle all over again. But first, we have a world cup to win and the silly season to contend with.
Go Bokke!
Yours in Property
Helen Ward
Principal Helen Melon Properties
www.helenmelonproperties.co.za