Lockdown property market update

On behalf of all of us at Greeff Christie's International Real Estate, we hope this finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy. Our thoughts remain with those who have been affected by COVID-19 worldwide, and we continue to focus our energy on the ways in which we can help our local communities, our clients, and our colleagues.

Like most industries, the property market has also faced its fair share of disruption throughout this period, however, the demand to transact from both buyers and sellers doesn't seem to be showing signs of slowing down. Despite the widespread pain, chaos and disruption brought on by coronavirus, we are delighted to announce that we have successfully concluded the below deals in the last 5 days, under national lockdown.

Ryan Greeff, Director at Greeff Christie's International Real Estate - City Bowl, Atlantic & Western Seaboard shares some context as to why demand has potentially remained propped up: "Rating agency Moody's cut South Africa's sovereign credit rating to sub-investment grade, meaning the country now has a 'junk' rating from all three major international rating agencies. The downgrade came on the same day that South Africa entered a 21-day national lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic." 

"Given the downgraded status that was delivered by Moody's on 27 March 2020, many sellers are aware that SA's new junk status poses constrained credit risk to purchasers after April. While interest rates are currently low and given that the economy potentially still has some time before it feels the full impact of the downgrade, sellers are harnessing this window of opportunity to sell." Greeff concludes.

Over the last two weeks, Greeff Christie's International Real Estate has become synonymous with being the 'Amazon of Real Estate' in the Western Cape, with a host of online sales taking place through various unique innovative measures that have been put in place to seamlessly serve our clients and facilitate transactions during the lockdown period.

These are uncertain times, but our group, as well as our global affiliate network, are strong and we will get through this together, collaborating with and supporting one another. We wish you all the best, and above all, we hope that you stay safe and healthy.

If you are considering selling and are interested to find out more about Greeff Christie's unique online model, or if you would simply like to know what your property is worth in the current market, please click on this link and one of our professional brokers will make contact.