How To Buy A House In South Africa
Data from First National Bank (FNB) shows house prices in South Africa increased by 4.2% in 2021, after a 2.5% rise in 2020. There is no official house price index in South Africa, but the FNB publishes the latest house price data on a monthly basis. Properties tend to sell within eight weeks of being listed, though this varies from area to area.
how to buy a house in south africa
If you choose to build your own home, in addition to buying a plot of land (either from a house builder or privately), you must appoint an architect to design the property and a builder to turn your plans into reality. Architects usually register with the South African Institute of Architects. House builders can be found by contacting the National Home Builders Registration Council.
Erwin Rode, MD for Rode &Associates tells us that the house prices do increase so you will most likely sell it for more than you bought it. However, when you compare the house price growth to the inflation rate, they are depreciating in real terms. In fact, for most of the last decade residential house price growth remained below inflation.
The final step to buying a house is, of course, closing on your new home. When that time comes, make sure you review your Closing Disclosure, which will outline the terms, final closing costs and any outstanding charges or fees included in your loan. Your lender will send the disclosure to you at least 3 business days before closing.
Picking up a property in South Africa is an enticing prospect. Not only are there fantastic locations, to live or set up a holiday home, the houses and apartments on sale in South Africa tend to be excellent value for money, in part due to the low value of the South African Rand. This makes them suitable as an investment for some expat buyers.
Non-resident expats will be asked to make a sizeable deposit payment, even once approved for a loan. This can run up to as much as 50% of the purchase price. These rules are slightly more relaxed once you have residency or a work permit for South Africa. As a foreigner you have to have any loan you apply for approved by the South African Reserve Bank before you're able to proceed with your house purchase.
Considering selling your house and need a sizeable cash injection to buy another property or invest in something else? A cash sale is the safest and quickest way to secure finances for any project that requires liquidity.
Even after speaking with a financial advisor and getting the go-ahead for buying a house in cash, you should still consider the risks. The option of not having bond repayments every month may seem attractive now, but in the long term, your financial health may suffer.
If you sell your house even earlier, like within a year, you may face an even higher tax burden; you won't benefit from long-term capital gains, and will have to pay tax on the home sale based on income tax rates, which could be as high as 37% depending on what bracket you're in.
Koopmans-de Wet House is a former residence and current museum in Strand Street, Cape Town, South Africa. The house became part of the South African Museum in 1913 and was opened to the public on 10 March 1914.[1][2] It was declared a National Monument under National Monuments Council legislation on 1 November 1940.[3] It is the oldest house museum in South Africa.[2]
Strand Street is one of the oldest and widest streets in Cape Town. Between 1664 and 1702 Strand Street was spoken of as Zee Straat. A Dutch East India Company (VOC) record of 1704 refers to it as Breete Strand Straat, while another calls it Breete Opgaande Straat no. I. In 1790 the matter was settled and name-boards with Strand Straat affixed to the corner houses.[4]
For two centuries Strand Street was home to the residences of citizens of the Cape Colony. The first house was occupied on 8 February 1664 by the baker Thomas Christoffel Mulder.[4] Another resident was the wealthy butcher Henning Huysing, who built one of the first two-storeyed houses in the Cape Colony in the street. The Dutch East India Company granted erven (plots) to these employees, who would later play important roles as citizens of the colony. Huysing became a Vryburgher (or Vrijburgher) on 2 January 1684, a status in which an employee of the VOC was released from their contractual obligations to the company and permitted to farm, become a tradesman, or work for others.[5] Ironically, Huysing would be instrumental in getting Willem Adriaan van der Stel, the governor of the Cape Colony, recalled on charges of corruption.[6]
The early dwelling, now substantially extended and altered, was built in 1701 by Reijnier Smedinga, silversmith, goldsmith, jeweller and joint assayer to the Dutch East India Company.[7] In 1722, Anthonij Hoesemans, lessee of a Company's wine license, took ownership of the house and erf 8. His enjoyment of the property was brief, for in 1723 the minutes of the Council of Policy at the Cape of Good Hope begin to refer to Claas van Donselaar,[8] a soldier who had been released from his contract on 4 May 1723, as the lessee of the wine license.[9][10] Both Hoesemans and his wife, Rijkje van Donselaar, had died earlier that year.[11][12] Claas van Donselaar was uncle to Rijkje van Donselaar and was made executor of the estate, along with Daniel Thibault and Jan Smit.[13] The property was transferred to Jacob Leever in 1724, to Hendrik van Aarde in 1730, and from him to Willem Pool (c.1744).[2]
A German carpenter, Johan Fredrik Willem Böttiger, the owner from 1748 to 1771 increased the area of the property and enlarged the house. Böttiger was a Burgher Councillor and is thus distinguished for being a member of the very first town council in South Africa.[4][7]
Pieter Malet, the owner from 1771 to 1793, and his wife, Catharina Kruins, added to the property by installing the slave-quarters over a coach-house at the back, building a second rear wing and adding uppers stories to both wings. It is also in his time that the current façade was added.[2] When Malet died, Hendrik Vos bought the house from his widow.
Margaretha Jacoba Smuts, the widow of the president of the Burgher Council, Hendrik Justinus de Wet, acquired the property in 1806. Some time after her husband died in 1802, she had sold their house on the corner of Heerengracht (Adderley Street) and Castle Street and moved with their five children and her stepson.
De Wet left a large estate, including slaves.[15] Margaretha had retained seven slaves: Jonas van de Caab, a cooper; Citie, his "wife"; Hector and Jacob, their children; Theresia; Kito van Mosambique, a cook; and July, a houseboy. By 1816, ten slaves were registered to the widow Smuts. July is not listed, but the new slaves were: Lafleur, a woodcutter; Lendor, a woodcutter, who in a later document is reported to have died on 31 December 1822; Kado (alias Bejoen), a tailor; Nancy, a girl, aged about 4.[16]
The brothers Johannes, Fredrick and Petrus de Wet inherited the house after her death in 1840, and Johannes decided to buy the others out. He married Adriana Dorothea Horak, a granddaughter of Martin Melck, and the daughter of Jan Andries Horak, whose ancestor had built the Smedinga house.[4] They had two daughters Maria (Marie) and Margaretha. Marie had been born in the house on 18 March 1834.
Marie de Wet married Johan Koopmans in 1864 and it is this union that gave rise to the current name of the house. The death of Johan Koopmans in 1880, sent Maria into an extended period of mourning, during which she travelled abroad, meeting King William III of the Netherlands. On her return she and her sister lived in Koopmans-de Wet House and turned it into a salon, and a transit point for supplies donated to Boer prisoners of war during the South African War.[17]
The wills of the De Wet sisters were ruled legally impossible to execute and the house (27 Strand Street, now no. 35), with all its content, was to be put up for auction. At the beginning of 1913 influential cultural figures Dora Fairbridge, Edward Roworth, William Frederick Purcell, Major William Jardine, Franklin Kaye Kendall, and Fred Glennie were driving the campaign for government purchase of the Koopmans-de Wet Collection. Florence and her husband, the Randlord Lionel Phillips, threw their considerable influence behind the movement from Johannesburg.
Lionel Philipps moved that the house and contents be preserved for the nation and that General and Executive Committees be formed to engage in fundraising and other necessary activities. He went so far as to propose the members, with Annie Botha and Dora Fairbridge to chair the committees. Florence Phillips was to serve on both. The Rev. A. I. Steytler seconded the motion in Dutch and the proposal was accepted unanimously.[1]
To drum up publicity, Olga Racster began contributing a series of articles on the house and its contents to the Cape Times. Mayor Harry Hands sent letters appealing for donations to all municipalities throughout the Union. Most notably, Johannesburg refused.
The sale, conducted by J. J. Hofmeyer & Son, started on 17 March 1913 and was to last ten days. The first eight days took place at the Good Hope Hall, Cape Town; the last two at the house in Strand Street. Viewing only started on 15 March, and viewers were not allowed to touch any of the pieces. A sparse catalogue and less than ideal viewing conditions put the committee, which had been able to inspect at their leisure, at a considerable advantage.[19]
The Koopmans-de Wet House would be auctioned on 8 April 1913. Lionel Phillips and his committee met in the night of 7 April, to formally resolve to buy the house and then hand it over to the South African Museum. The next day the public Committee bought the house for 2800 and formally donated it, along with Dr. Purcell's purchases, to the State.[1][19]
Nankin porcelain came to the Cape in large quantities and Marie Koopmans-de Wet was a collector. She owned an intact Nankin service, still on display at Koopmans-de Wet House.[19] The sale of 1913 contained 43 lots of Nankin, fetching over 88.[19] Purcell acquired so many that Morrison was to decry the purchases as Kitchen Nankin on the 7th day of sale.[19] For whatever reason, Purcell chose to purchase ceramics typical of the prosperous town house of the early nineteenth century Cape, and not necessarily of the original collection.[19] 041b061a72
