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Transcript/ScriptFOR USAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: COVID-South Africa Housing (TV)
HEADLINE: South Africa’s Luxury Homes Sees Boom in Demand
TEASER: Pandemic drives desire for more at-home office space, gardens, real estate agents say
PUBLISHED AT: Tuesday, 02/01/2022 at 10:13 am
BYLINE: Linda Givetash, Zaheer Cassim
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG
VIDEOGRAPHER: Zaheer Cassim
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER: Rod James
SCRIPT EDITORS: pcd, Salem Solomon, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA Original, Zoom
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 3:19
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: There is a radio story accompanying this piece.))
((INTRO)) [[South Africa’s luxury housing dealers say the market is booming despite the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Real estate agents say the need to work from home and have better security are some of the drivers, while affordable housing for the poor remains a challenge. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg.]]
((NARRATOR))
South Africa’s luxury real estate market saw an unexpected boom in 2021 despite the country's broader economic woes.
Property analytics firm Lightstone reported that the luxury market experienced a six-year high in the total purchase value of transfers.
Realtors say the pandemic has played a role in inspiring home buyers to go big.
((Charlene Negus, Realtor, Firzt Realty Company)) ((In English, 20 secs))
“Because everybody is now working from home, everything has changed. People now need almost like a study for every individual in the home. So, if you have two teenagers and two adults, you actually need four workspaces now because they all end up working from home.”
((NARRATOR))
She says back-up electricity sources and updated internet infrastructure are among the amenities buyers are demanding.
They’re also considering the many ways they use their homes from work to play.
((Charlene Negus, Firzt Realty Company)) ((In English, 20 sec))
“People now need double the reception space because you want a facility where various parts of the family can have gatherings going on at the same time. Also, very importantly is the inside-outside feel.”
((NARRATOR))
Still, the housing landscape is feeling effects from the pandemic.
The country has seen jobless rates top 35 percent.
It’s led to people selling their houses, downsizing and even moving in with other family.
((Michelle Dickens, CEO of TPN Credit Bureau)) ((In English, 22 secs))
((Mandatory cg: ZOOM))
“Overall, we actually saw deterioration in the number of sales in South Africa. In fact, we saw about a 15% deterioration in the number of sales from the preceding year. And we're down about 50% from the decade prior to that.” (10:21) “So ultimately, what we need is job recovery in order to encourage demand, both on the rental and the “for sale” side of the property market.”
((NARRATOR))
Dickens says vacancy rates in city centres have been on the rise since the pandemic began.
At the same time the country has a massive housing shortage.
The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa reports a shortfall of 3.7 million homes — and that gap is expected to grow by 178,000 homes every year.
It means 20 percent of urban households are in informal settlements.
Government housing isn’t being built fast enough and older houses in communities like Soweto are rapidly falling apart.
((Benjamin Van Wyk, Pastor)) ((In English, 23 sec))
“As a pastor I’m crying because this is not the only houses that looks like this. There are even others that is also worse. // (5:11) Even if we could have money, we would have built our own places. But because people don’t have jobs // (6:00) Even myself, I’m not working. My wife is not working. You see? So really, we are we are not fine. We are not, we are not okay.”
((NARRATOR))
The result is a landscape of extremes with slums and informal settlements on one end and luxury homes on the other.
((Angelo Fick, Director of Research, Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute)) ((In English, 15 secs))
“So, the decreasing upper middle class will retreat into compounds behind fences, privatized estates, and sometimes even privatized cities.” (25:40) “But that's only sustainable in the medium term, that's not long-term sustainability.”
((NARRATOR))
The long term outlook on the housing market is unclear while the effects of the pandemic are played out.
Experts say only economic growth and a drop in unemployment rates will improve the landscape.
((Linda Givetash, for VOA News, Johannesburg))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
BylineLinda Givetash
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
