Property Talk

The idea of a vertical city is epitomized by Dubai and specifically by the world's tallest building in Dubai, Burj Khalifa. This has provided a glimpse into the future as urbanization continues around the world and the densification of existing urban areas creates pressures and opportunities in our built environment.

If we take South Africa specifically and look at the impact of urbanization since the 1970's it is fascinating how some things have changed in terms of what defines the average family home. According to World Bank data the percentage of SA's population that was urbanized in 1976 was estimated to be 48.16%, and by 2016 this was believed to be 63.43%. FNB recently published a report on urban land scarcity and the trend towards smaller, denser homes.

The average full title stand in South Africa has shrunk from 1,063.4 sqm for homes built from 1970-1974 to the current average of 551.94 sqm. If we break this down to a provincial level, the Western Cape has the lowest average full title stand size at 487.2 sqm. Gauteng is not far behind with an average size of 551.9 sqm with its traffic congestion driving the ongoing sub-division of residential sites.

KZN is less developed and less congested and has a larger average full title stand size at 802 sqm. The average building size has also declined significantly from 203.35 sqm for the period 1970-1974 to 161.89 sqm for building built from 2015 to 2017. We see that stand sizes have decreased by more than the actual building sizes making the full title land utilization rate increase from 20.4% in the 1970's to its current 33.2%.

The growing move towards sectional title developments which typically densify any given tract of land is highlighted by the fact that during the period 1985-1989 only 6.09% of homes were built as sectional title opportunities where as today 27.06% of all homes - that is almost a third, are sectional title.

There has been a dramatic reduction in certain "luxuries" as a way to deal with home affordability pressures.

Domestic workers quarters has declined from a peak of 63.82% of homes built with these during the 1950's to only 13.02% of homes currently built with domestic accommodation. During the 1970's 38.28% of homes were built with swimming pools, where as today only 8.84% of homes are built with pools, according to the FNB sample of homes valued.

Other areas of economizing have been studies and garaging in homes. Even the dining room has become outdated with 78.8% of homes in the 1980's having dining rooms and only 55% currently. Smaller families in general have meant homes with fewer bedrooms. For homes built in the 1970-74 period, 10.9% had 5 bedrooms. By the 2015-2017 period, only 1.39% of homes built have 5 bedrooms. Similarly the percentage of 4 Bedroom homes has also declined from 23.32% in the 1970's to 5.64% today. Currently 41.51% of homes built have two bedrooms. There has been a noticeable increase in one-bedroom homes from a mere 1.84% in the 1980's to 12.05% today.