FijiUK

Having lived in SA for a year and loving it, I am now in two minds as to whether to take the plunge and buy a property.
Inasmuch as it would be our home, I always believe a property purchase must be viewed as an investment of sorts.

Option 1:
Buy in SA and live mortgage free and hope that if we decide to up stakes in 5 years or so, we can sell and realise some return on our "investment" or at least our capital outlay.

Option 2:
Buy an investment property in an economy that is on its way up (allegedly), e.g. US, and use the proceeds from that property to pay rent in SA on the notion that the property market in SA would not rise any time soon.

We are looking at the R4m mark.. What say ye?

VinoVeritas

Fiji, 400k is about 240k GBP, for which you could get a decent rental property in the UK, rent it out for 800-1000 GBP per month, and that would give you going on 20k Rand per month.

Mind you, I'm not sure if that's enough to live on decently in SA, but it constitutes our retirement plan, starting next year.

JS55

Hi. This is an interesting thread and addresses some questions I have too.
I lived in SA up until 2012 ,am now in the UK but so homesick plan to move back next year. Also in the same dilemma - invest in UK or buy back home?

I think the potential gain in property will depend on where you are planning to buy. Where I lived in Cape town, the properties have gone up substantially in value since we left. A R3m home is now selling for R4m. And sales are not slowing down from what I see and hear from friends and family.

Maybe an idea is to split your investment.. Half in a stable economy and half in SA?

Let me know what else you find out. Interested to hear..

terence2

I'm following the SA market with interest. Things not looking too stable at the moment.