THE GOOD IN THE HOOD
Hello and welcome to our new bi-monthly neighbourhood blog post on BKM Property. As property professionals in the BKM #GoodInTheHood , Cecily Madison and Murray Tocker are well placed to observe and share what’s happening, and what to look out for.
This is an opportunity for us to share interesting, inspiring and informative news in the Bergvliet, Kreupelbosch Meadowridge neighbourhood (BKM) right here on Bergvliet.co.za with a slight bias towards good and happy news, hence the name of our blog ‘THE GOOD IN THE HOOD’.
Stories to look forward to over the weeks ahead are; “Mandy and her Goose” (the adorable true story of an Alsation and an Egyptian goose and their lifelong bond and friendship right here in the heart of the hood), the opening of the new Wool and Craft store, updates on Die Oog, property updates and much more. We also ask you, our readers to suggest and recommend stories and points of interest making this blog more interactive than many others. (Email us)
Today, as we slowly work our way through the madness of COVID19, and awaken from the slumber of lockdown, we thought it would be appropriate for us to give you an overview of the property market in BKM.
You will see many ‘reports’ of sales in the area from various entities giving statistics of the recent sales in the area. These reports do not make for happy reading. But we are here to tell you “do not believe the hype’! The statistics for 2020 are skewed as a result of the deeds office being closed for most of the 1st half of 2020 and therefore the data is compromised. The reality is that it’s not all bad news! While it is most certainly true that there have been way less sales this year than the same period of last year, it is important to remember that with a ‘black swan’ event like COVID19, it is not really fair to compare the lockdown period with any other period in our history.
It must also be mentioned that since 1 June, we have seen a significant increase in interest from buyers in our hood. We have not been this busy for years, and there has never been a better time for buyers to use mortgage facilities with our banks offering the lowest interest rates since the 70s. This has resulted in buyers now being able to afford more than they could pre COVID19 and if truth be told, we have found that they are willing to pay the prices.
People have spent a few months inside their homes and many decisions have been taken which often results in the need for a move. Our Southern Suburbs office recorded our best June ever and as we ‘go to press’ the franchise team has ten deals on the board for the 10th of July! It is true that prices in our hood have been under pressure for some time, but we firmly believe that our prices had already adjusted before lockdown and the conspiracy theory that house prices are dropping fast now, has been proven to be simply unfounded.
Yes, pricing remains critical in any market. But if your home is competitively priced and properly presented by professionals, the price is achievable. We sold a house just the other day for almost FULL asking price. That is not to say that people will overpay for a house. On the contrary, they won’t. But they will pay for what they perceive as value. What is also very interesting, is that there has not been the saturation of houses-for-sale flooding the market that was predicted. In fact, very few new listings have been seen in our hood.
So we have a particularly strange situation where our buyers outnumber the stock availability in what has been deemed to be a buyer’s market. Dare I say that in my humble opinion, we have a seller’s market in terms of availability and pricing and a buyer’s market in terms of financial affordability lending protocols. Confused? So is everyone else. The bottom line is that no one really knows where this is going. But it is going. And that’s the main thing.
Of course, the best news about the property market in our hood is the long term growth you have achieved. Like any big investment, growth over a longer period is the essential marker for your return and we are pleased to tell you that over the last 10 years, your investment in your property has done better than almost any other long term investment you could make with returns of over 100% in most cases. There have been normal dips and highs, but the graph average is upwards. Below you can see some charts of the long terms stats and price ranges where most of the sales are happening.
We often remark to each other how lucky we are to work in a hood like BKM where people are real and real people live. Our community is one to be envied and we are true South Africans. We hope our new blog will add a little bit of goodness to the BKM hood and look forward to hearing from you.
Signing off ‘All good in da hood‘
Murray and Cecily
B.K.M. #GoodInTheHood is on Facebook