More under 35s live as ‘nomads’ due to high cost of property

Thabo Shole Mashao speaks with Hayley Ivins-Downes, Managing Executive Real Estate Cluster at Lightstone

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

The number of under 35-year-olds buying houses has declines sharply over the last 6 years.

This fall is proportionally sharper than the overall drop in property purchase.

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Purchases by south Africans between the age of 26 and 35 dropped by 25% from 2018 to 2023.

Ivins-Downes says that this is in part due to Covid, but mostly due to rising costs.

She adds that many young people are embracing a more nomadic lifestyle with remote working, rather than putting down roots somewhere.

Not spending money on property gives them far more opportunities to do what they want with life.

“There are many stories that we have heard of people that move around in a motor home working.”

- Hayley Ivins-Downes, Managing Executive Real Estate Cluster at Lightstone

If you are looking to buy a house, she says that now is a great time to do it as it is a buyers’ market.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.