What it does
Property value reports give you insights into the price of virtually any residential property in South Africa. You can search for a property by city, suburb or street name. The database is impressively broad, with dozens or hundreds of properties in each suburb.
Drawn from municipal deeds offices and other public domain data, these reports have detailed information on the value of a property going back decades. You can see who bought a property, how much they paid and even how large a bond they took out.
The reports also show the most recent sale prices of nearby properties – both in list and map format – as well as 12 months of sales trends for the area as a whole. This is data that was previously only available to estate agents, but ordinary users can now access them for a fee of R129 per report.
How it helps
Knowing the recent sale price of a property, as well as the sales trends for nearby properties and the area in general, can give you a significant advantage in negotiating a fair price for a property (whether you’re buying or selling). It can also be very helpful when disputing municipal or SARS valuations.
You can see the most recent sales prices for a suburb without paying, but the detailed report is definitely worth the cost. Being able to compare properties based on size, price and date of last sale gives you a much more reliable indication of the state of the market.
The trend data is also extremely useful – with both monthly and annual trends for the area. The data shows both the average value of sales for a period, and the number of sales, which gives you a good sense of how “in demand” an area is (or has been in the past).
What other users say
“The property valuation sites use the latest sales prices in an area to calculate the property values, and will be far more accurate than the Municipal valuation. If you are interested in an area, buy a report. The Agents know the figures for their area and it gives you an advantage to know what other properties have sold for.” – Billy
What the experts say
“The easy-to-use online tool is designed to empower users to assess relevant sales trends across all areas of South Africa and make more informed property decisions.” – Bizcommunity
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