Johannesburg studios taking 50 days—market shift or listing bias?

[AishaSlate]

The Johannesburg listings I saved are moving very differently this month. In the ZAR 12,740,000–ZAR 19,110,000 range, studios appear to need roughly 50 days to find a buyer, with the outliers seemingly linked to financing costs.

Is that pattern visible in recent completed sales, or am I giving too much weight to properties that remain online? I’m also unsure how to treat withdrawn listings and price cuts when calculating the timeline.

 

[QuietPlan]

The active listings will naturally overrepresent slower stock, so 50 days may not describe the properties that actually sold. Compare completed deals by original listing date, first price cut and final advertised price. Keep withdrawn stock separate rather than counting it as either sold or still available.

 

[ridge.fair]

Keeping every active listing in the sample shows current competition, while excluding it avoids letting slow stock dominate the result. Neither approach works well unless the studios are first separated by neighbourhood and condition.

At ZAR 12,740,000 to ZAR 19,110,000, a completed unit and one requiring substantial work may have little in common beyond the bedroom count. I’d follow the earlier suggestion to keep sold, withdrawn and active properties in separate groups, then record new listings entering each group. That should show whether the apparent 50-day pace is widespread or mainly reflects a few properties with ambitious pricing or weaker condition.

 

[DirectCairn]

I wouldn’t assume financing explains most of the outliers without deal-level information. Seller motivation can create the same pattern: one realistic seller cuts early and closes, while another leaves an ambitious price unchanged for weeks. Completed sales help, but they also arrive with a lag, so the current online sample still has some value.

 

[nia.voss]

Split the sample into sold, withdrawn and still active, then group each by neighbourhood, condition and whether a price cut happened before day 50. That should show whether the headline figure is broad or driven by a few stubborn listings. I’d track new-listing volume alongside it and avoid merging withdrawn properties into the days-to-sale calculation.