The majority of first-time homebuyers are still purchasing freehold homes as their primary residence says Pam Golding Property Group, but there is a clear shift towards sectional title homes for investment purposes.

According to data from ooba Home Loans, the percentage of freehold homes purchased by first-time home buyers has barely shifted, declining from 70% in 2014 to 66% in 2024.

In 2014, there was a slight preference for freehold homes (52% of first-time buyer investment purchases) but by 2024, sectional title purchases dominated at 60% of all first-time buyer investment purchases, says Dr Andrew Golding, Chief Executive of the Pam Golding Property Group.

He adds that first-time buyers are also embracing the national trend towards investment/buy-to-let properties with the percentage of first-time buyer purchases of total mortgages from this segment received from ooba Home Loans having risen from just 4% in 2014 to an average of 10% in 2024. This compares to the national average demand for investment properties which accounted for 12.75% of all mortgage applications received by ooba Home Loans during the first four months of the year.

Increasing demand from first-time buyers has resulted in a real (inflation adjusted) increase in the average price paid during the first four months of 2025 where the national price by home buyers in SA averaged R1.66 million – an increase of 2.7% compared to the same period in 2024.

He notes that the average price paid between January and April 2025 by first-time home buyers was R1.245 million, an increase of +4.7% compared to year-earlier levels.

“Interestingly, a slight majority of first-time homebuyers purchase their properties alone”, he says. “A statistic which has not changed much over the past decade (52% in 2014 and 55% in 2024). This is possibly due to people delaying marriage, with a slight decrease in the percentage of purchasing with a spouse – from 34% in 2014 to 27% in 2024. However, purchasing with another person has risen from 14% to 18%, perhaps reflecting those buying a home with a partner, family member, or friend instead.”

“Unsurprisingly, a slight majority (64%) of first-time buyers do not have dependents. However, there has been a clear increase in those without dependents in the wake of the pandemic, even as the average age of first-time buyers has risen. The lower percentage of first-time buyers with dependents perhaps also reflects the decline in first-time buyers purchasing a home with a spouse, as young adults delay marriage and/or parenthood.”

There has been a main shift from >24 to 33 years to those over the age of 43 years, which is now the fastest growing age cohort of first-time buyers, he adds. “Nonetheless, the largest age group is >33 to 43 years with a more recent average age of 35 years.”

Regionally, ooba Home Loans’ statistics revealed that year-to-date, demand from first-time buyers was strongest in Mpumalanga (57.3%) followed closely by the Free State (55.9%). Gauteng South & East (51.4%) and KwaZulu-Natal (51.2%) were the only other regions in which first-time buyers accounted for more than half of all their applications for home loan finance.