If you think that the majority of homeowners who pack up their lives to semigrate are young or middle-aged professionals, you are wrong.
In fact, South Africans in the 30- to 40-year-old age bracket who sell their properties to move to another province or region are actually in the minority.
Most homeowners who sold their properties last year in order to semigrate and buy new homes elsewhere were aged 60 to 70, Lightstone data reveals.
This is presumably because they move to other areas to retire, says Lightstone head of digital Hayley Ivins-Downes.
“The 60- to 70-year-olds were most likely to move to a new municipality, followed by the 50- to 60-year-olds and then the over 70’s. The least likely to move municipalities were the 30- to 40-year-olds”.
Homeowners moving to new municipalities
Whatever your age when deciding if you should semigrate, Paul Stevens, chief executive of Just Property, says you should be guided by how provinces and municipalities perform before deciding where to move.
“South African municipalities each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. If you're considering moving, it's important to research carefully and choose a municipality that's right for you.”
The most important factors you should consider when moving to a new municipal area are:
- The municipality’s financial performance
- The municipality’s service delivery
“Some municipalities are better managed than others. Look for a municipality with a strong financial track record and a good credit rating...Make sure the municipality you're considering moving to is responsive and provides good quality services, such as water, electricity, sanitation, and road maintenance.”
While looking at the outcome of local government audits is a “very good place” to start when evaluating where to move, he notes that a clean audit is not always an indicator of good service delivery and does not always correlate directly to the lived experience of all communities in a municipal area.
Citing the findings of the most recent Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes (for the period 2021 to 2022), he says these are the municipalities that achieved clean audits, and the number of years that they had achieved it:
Narrowing the focus exclusively to financial management, Stevens says Ratings Afrika – which scores 104 local municipalities and the eight metros according to a financial sustainability index – found the top-scoring municipalities to be:
- Midvaal 72%
- Saldanha Bay 72%
- George 71%
- Mossel Bay 70%
- Swartland 70%
The top metro was Cape Town with 68%, and the top-scoring province was the Western Cape with an average score of 52%.
He adds that South Africans looking to semigrate should keep an eye out for Lightstone’s Residential Property Indexes to see which areas were home to properties that held or improved in value.
“According to the most recent edition, annual property inflation remained steady in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, increased in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and decreased in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, North West and the Northern Cape.”
On average, coastal properties were outperforming non-coast properties, with 7% vs 3% annual property inflation. And freehold property showed a slight edge over sectional title properties.
In Q1 2023, property inflation in the major metros was:
- City of Cape Town 3.4%
- City of Johannesburg -0.1%
- City of Tshwane 2.9%
- Ekurhuleni 2.2%
- Ethekwini 3.6%
- Nelson Mandela Bay 5.1%
To make sure that your semigration dream does not turn into a nightmare, Marcél du Toit, chief executive of Leadhome offers the following tips:
Think with your head, not your heart
Just because a place is great to holiday in, doesn’t mean it’s great to live in. You have a totally different set of needs for where you live and work, as opposed to where you lie on the beach and drink cocktails.
Make a list of your key priorities for your new home, and stick to them. Don’t get side-tracked by a nice view or a romantic dream.
Consider renting before you buy
If I could do it all over, I would have rented in the town for a few months first before taking the plunge. What are the people like? How’s the weather? Where’s your nearest supermarket? Not all the quirks of small-town life are equally charming.
Check out the amenities
If you’re going to be doing remote work, a reasonable internet connection is non-negotiable. But take some time to weigh up the broader amenities in the area: how near (or far) are you from schools, hospitals, shopping centres, entertainment and airports? If you have to be driving 90 minutes just to get to a doctor, this is something you should consider.
Access to friends, family and support structures
Living on the coast, or in a small town, sounds like a dream. But the reality is that you’re often far away from your friends and family – and no matter how often they say they’re going to come and visit, life often gets in the way. It’s when things go wrong that you realise the value of a support network – and if you don’t have one in your new town, you may struggle.