The best time for a long time to be an estate agent!
While pent-up demand has activated the rise in property transactions, financial pressure due to Covid related interference on many homeowners will provide a continuous flow of real estate activities through 2021. If ever there was a time to consider building a business in real estate, it is now. With the best training in the industry and a model that has seen Keller Williams grow to be the largest real estate company in the world, the excitement in South Africa of the brand is supported by the outstanding growth of the company locally. Add to that the world-class technology that Keller Williams provides, it is clear to see that this company is at the forefront of what the tech-enabled estate agent is about.
To look back at the response of the housing market leaves one with a total lack of understanding of how the real estate market responded to the Covid induced lockdown. A clear message of what can happen when people communally respond to change. Very few economists or real estate business owners could have projected a turnaround in the housing market as it happened over the past year. We all expected that the synergy between the economy and the housing market to continue with hardly anything to be excited about. But to the surprise of many in the business, the property market across the world and in South Africa responded very positively for many different reasons. In South Africa, homeownership is supported by the lowest interest rates for decades as well as house prices that have hardly grown over the last 10 years (if inflation is kept out of the equation). These two factors may add to the opportunity of homeownership but there are various other reasons that are now supporting the record sales we are seeing month over month.
Cheaper to buy than rent
For the first time in years, many people view owning as more advantageous as renting and a massive increase in bond applications has been seen over the past 8 months. Add in the inconvenience of given notice to move and the long-term investment return ownership offers, it is easy to understand how first-time homeowners, as well as recent renters, are turning to ownership again.
Open area living
The pandemic has lead to various behavioral shifts with a demand for outdoor space more important. Outdoor activities are also seeing a growth in demand and adding to lifestyle requirements focused on a more healthy lifestyle.
Working from home
While it was possible in the past to work from home, the benefits of technology became more obvious over the past year and opened new opportunities to not only work from home but also question the importance to stay close to work. Commuting once a week or even once a month with Zoom meetings in between has become a norm for many with huge benefits in their utilization of time and family life.
Add a bit of luxury-restaurant experiences at home has become standard practice through the likes of Uber Eats and others.
Combining holiday lifestyle with work lifestyle is also becoming more and more popular with holiday destinations becoming permanent homes while previous houses close to work and school given up for a more attractive life in the country or seaside without production or management compromises offered by a tech-enabled mindset and opportunity.
Massive growth in virtual gaming lifestyle
From the luxury of your armchair, many real-life experiences can be simulated. Whether it is motor racing, hunting, golf, war, or games for the most imaginative mind, cyberspace provides for parallel experiences that is providing realistic at a fraction of the cost of the real thing and gaining massive popularity day after day and demand for in-house virtual gaming facilities are growing accordingly.
Convenience of on-line shopping. From groceries to luxuries.
It is obvious that the convenience of gaming and television entertainment and fast-food delivery on the level we are exposed to is changing the way we work and play with more to do and eat at prices that fit most pockets. The focus is on the best possible experiences at home with reliable broadband facilities becoming necessary as a standard requirement supported by home deliveries within hours and sometimes minutes due to the massive infrastructure that has been developed to support the demand for immediate gratification expected by the modern human being.
The Covid virus created a pandemic on a scale we have never seen before and changed the way we think, live and work in a very short period of time. But like before it has identified that change also brings opportunity and the real estate industry is at the forefront of providing value to people through property ownership and it’s obvious advantages of growing wealth and quality of life.
Life is about choices
If you are interested in more information regarding the opportunities available to build a massive business, please feel free to make contact with us.
