The real estate year in review

Ask Ash

- Ash Müller

Over the past year, I stood on construction sites before ground was broken, walked through malls on opening day, debated affordability and the housing crisis with experts and watched entire towns change almost in real time.

When you put together the conversations, the data, the developments and the social media noise, a clear picture of 2025 emerges. It was not a boom year, but it was not a bust year either. It was certainly a busy year for real estate. I like to think of it as the year real estate recalibrated.

The Western Cape remained the most talked-about province in my inbox and on my feeds. From record-breaking mansion sales in Clifton to the V&A Waterfront's land reclamation expansion, the development of the Cape Winelands Airport, and the breaking ground of Cape Town's second-tallest skyscraper with 270 residential apartments and 505 hotel rooms, Cape Town was undeniably cooking.

Beyond the city bowl and the Atlantic Seaboard — Paarl, Stellenbosch, Somerset West and the broader Winelands continued their upward march, not because property suddenly became cheap or easy, but because demand did not let up.

Semigration is no longer a buzzword. It is baked into pricing, planning and development pipelines.

Lifestyle estates exploded, particularly those offering security, work-from-home infrastructure, nearby schools, and a sense of managed living. Tired but resilient South Africans are craving stability and predictability, and that demand is reshaping where and how we build.

Cape Town remained constrained, with pressure on infrastructure and services that were already under too much pressure. Supply stayed tight and land prices followed suit. The pressures showed up in pricing and rentals, and increasingly in debates around affordability and inclusion.