Typically, these conversations are sparked by one of the participants knowing a 'forced' seller of a property - mostly due to emigration or semigration. At this point, the owners often realise that a property purchased for, say, R3 million around a decade ago is barely worth that price today .
Those who are unlucky enough to still own investment properties are sitting with exactly the same problem, compounded by the fact that they're funding the shortfall between rental and the all-in monthly cost of the townhouse . A stuttering economy, interest rates at multi-decade highs, load shedding, and emigration sales above their long-term average mean a struggling residential property market.For many middle-class South Africans, the majority of their wealth is tied up in their physical property and retirement savings .