Here's where South Africans are buying their second or third properties

Gauteng is the province of choice for owners of two or more properties, says Lightstone, providers of property data analytics.

The Lightstone dataset included individuals who owned two or more properties in different provinces, as well as the volume of properties owned by multiple property owners.

Of the owners with two properties in different provinces (whose first property was bought in Gauteng), 31% purchased their second property in the Western Cape and 26% opted for KwaZulu-Natal.

"This would correspond with our previous findings that one out of seven individuals who own two properties has at least one based at the coast," says Hayley Ivins-Downes, head of sales for Lightstone.

Not only the coast

"Although this comes as no surprise considering the exodus to coastal regions over holiday periods, it's been interesting to discover where multiple property owners who first purchased homes at the coast have chosen to invest in their second and/or third properties." About 54% of individuals who purchased their first property in the Western Cape chose Gauteng to invest in their second property, while 13% chose the Eastern Cape and 12% elected KwaZulu-Natal as the province of choice for their second purchase. 

About 63% of those who bought in KwaZulu Natal, chose Gauteng to invest in their second property, followed by 17% electing for the Western Cape. When Lightstone looked at the data for property owners with more than two properties in different provinces, the picture looks similar, with 52% of multiple property owners based in KwaZulu Natal, and 47% of those based in the Western Cape choosing Gauteng as the preferred province to invest in.  

The split is an equal 27% between the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal as the province of choice for additional property purchases when reviewing multiple property owners with more than two properties across different provinces.

Analysis of the volume of properties owned, shows that 57% of individuals who own two properties prefer to own these in the same province, whereas 44% of two or more properties are owned by a private person across provinces.

* Compiled by Carin Smith