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, a provider 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
