Pools VS SUVs, Garages Take Priority for SA Home Buyers
For thousands of years human habits remained reasonably the same, as did homes. And then, machines. Today, technology brings sweeping revolution every five years. The smartphone is only ten years old. The VHS video tape morphed into a DVD, and those evaporated into the cloud. Our homes are changing yearly.
"The garage is being given much more consideration than in the past and is a major new influence in home design and home value, says Levinson, founder of architectural practice, LevEvo".
Tracy Levinson has been an architect for 14 years. She created LevEco Architects in 2007, a brand that focuses on applying state-of-the-art architectural design to new ways of eco-friendly living. Her work has been published in numerous publications for her architectural design skills in eco-friendly living, including the Journal of the South African Institute of Architects. Levinson provides the following insights into the modern home, "The garage is being given much more consideration than in the past, a major new influence in home design and home value. Today's garages are seen as an extension of the house, finishing them off to the same specification as within the rest of the house. A tiled garage is now almost the norm, and considerations like built-in cupboards, inverters and charging ports for electric cars have drastically changed the shape of the space".
She says the base-level garage of five years ago was a typical (5.8m x 5.8m) and today the space is a standard (7m x 7m) or (7m x 9m).
Seeff's Graham White says, "I am seeing a trend where home buyers are wanting and requiring bigger garages".
The kinds of vehicles modern families are choosing are changing too. George Mienie, CEO of South Africa's largest online motoring marketplace, AutoTrader, reveals that the SUV is the car on the rise.
"The popularity of the SUV market is growing",says Mienie. "Two of the top 10 makes and models searched for on AutoTrader in 2017 were for SUVs, and our data shows this number is growing monthly".
"Despite the lower cost of public transport, South Africans still use personal vehicles as their main means of transport",says Mienie. "The demand for bigger, and therefore safer, doesn't seem to be abating. Interestingly, this is the reverse of more developed countries, where smaller and swifter is often preferred".
Graham White, Senior Property Specialist, sees the garage taking a more prominent role in buying and selling considerations.
"Today's garages are seen as an extension of the house and finished off to the same specification as the rest of the home", says Levinson.
"There is certainly a trend in my market that buyers are wanting and requiring bigger garages,"says White. "The reasons are that most people have at least one SUV, if not two. Some of the large SUVs do not fit in the current double garages. Secondly, many families now have more than two cars and/or a golf cart, boats, etc. As much as minimalistic and clutter-free living is popular, buyers still like to feel they have the storage space if needs be, as opposed to having to hire a storage unit".
"Ultimately, there are not really any negatives to having a bigger garage and one thing is for sure, the larger garage is starting to take precedence over certain luxuries like pools, playrooms, TV rooms, etc.",says White.
In the 1950s the world was wide, resources were forever, and a white picket fence was every family's dream. In the 90's that fence had become a five bedroom home, and there it plateaued. Today the world is smaller, technology connects us like never before, and housing is swinging back to a place where nature and people once more find a better fit.
As the world continues turning and changing, what's next?