MAIN IMAGE: Hayley Ivins-Downes, managing executive – real estate at Lightstone
Lightstone
Although trusts and other non-natural buyers are popular at the luxury end.
Homeowners prefer buying houses on their own rather than in partnership with others or through a company or trust – although trusts and other non-natural buyers are popular in the higher price bands.
Hayley Ivins-Downes, managing executive – real estate at Lightstone, aprovider of comprehensive data, analytics and systems on property, automotive and business assets, said Lightstone’s data points to single owner house buyer numbers increasing marginally since 2013, from 51% to 55% by the end of 2023, while joint home ownerships had fallen from 36% to 30%.
Single vs joint home ownership – 2013-2024
And while natural persons are drifting towards buying on their own in greater numbers, Ivins-Downes said the data shows more non-natural buyers – a company, trust or an organisation – in the more expensive property price bands (see graph below).
Difference in ownership type per price bands – 2013-2024
“In fact, non-natural buyers and transactions involving two buyers accounted for around 60% of deals in the Super Luxury category, while in the Township and Affordable price bands it’s the other way around with single ownership leading the way at around 65-68%”, she said.
Interestingly, Ivins-Downes said the graph below shows that the purchase price was always higher when non-natural buyers were involved, and mostly two-owner transactions were higher than one-owner deals.
Average purchase price comparisons
