 The impact of COVID-19 has surely brought awareness around the importance of one's quality of life. Today we discuss immigration towards smaller towns and how it has proven to be a better choice lifestyle wise. This is Hybrid Property Podcast, I'm Dumie, let's unpack. Today we are joined by a doctor. He holds a B.S.C. from the Statenbosch University as well as a M.B.C. H.B. from the University of Cape Town with an honest degree in sports medicine. He's the chief executive of Pam Golding Properties and he's internationally acclaimed for promoting South Africa as an investment destination. Ladies and gentlemen, here's a conversation I had with Andrew Golding and this is how it went. It's always a pleasure and having a man of your stature on our podcast is truly a feat for us and we are talking about immigration, something that's so popular in the property market now. It's something a lot of people are doing so let's jump into it and say if somebody doesn't know what immigration is, let's go into detail and tell them what it's about. So it really is a derivation of immigration except that it's not to leave the country, it's just to relocate from one part of the country to another. It's actually been around for a long time. I think the term was first coined about 20 years ago when there was the first wave of potential purchases leaving the northern parts of the country and moving down to the south and the trend has really continued but has obviously accelerated with COVID and has been a central feature of a number of the characteristics of the property market that have changed as a result of COVID and the so-called new normal. Yeah and talking about the new normal and COVID, what kind of effect has immigration had on it? Has it been a positive one? Are we seeing some disadvantages because of COVID or things that are happening in the market now that could be attributed to immigration that could either be positive or negative? So I think with the lockdown and the post lockdown environment there were a number of systemic changes that potentially happened in the market, so in other words permanent changes and one of those was definitely a move from the inland provinces to the coastal areas and that was pretty much the entire coast, so the west coast of the country and the east coast and it coincided with I think all of the characteristics of the new normal around working from home, remote working, people making lifestyle choices as opposed to having to live and work close to where their offices were and so a number of those changes have taken place and they've had significant effects on all of the coastal areas of the country and certainly positive effects in terms of those markets. The inland provinces have perhaps taken a bit of a disadvantage in that there has been a significant move from the inland provinces to the coast but certainly the coastal towns and cities have definitely benefited. Sure and you know you spoke about people moving from the north mostly to the south and you know moving into the coastal areas, can you just take us through some of the hot spots that you guys have been seeing in the industry in terms of where people are moving to and maybe some of the reasons why you think this is the case? Yeah it's very difficult to sort of pick out any specific hot spots because the entire coast of the country has benefited from Quasarino Natale all the way down through the eastern Cape Garden Route and obviously the western Cape. The western Cape was certainly the sort of prime spot of the original immigration but really the whole coastal part of the country has benefited and the reasons have been very varied. So people who've decided that they're able to live in a coastal area and still work from there so that's either remote working or in fact commuting from a coastal area which has an airport close to it has been another reason. People have moved for lifestyle reasons that's certainly been a very significant factor. Education has played a big role so families are looking to educate their children at the coast and not to now work from there and then access to medical facilities has also been an important reason why people have chosen either a city or a town which happens to have adequate medical facilities. So the reasons have been varied and obviously against the backdrop of affordability being a key driver of what people feel they could afford has also been a factor in terms of determining where they were looking to move to. Sure and in your expert opinion I mean this trend is gaining steam and a lot of people are now doing it and they're doing it for various reasons as you mentioned. What in your opinion would you say is likely to happen in the next coming years? Are we likely to see maybe people moving back to the city because you know COVID is now phasing out slowly and I'm saying this you know with a little pinch of salt in terms of things are slowly going back to pre-COVID era. So what do you think is going to happen in the next two three years? What should we expect to see in the industry? Yes I think it's an interesting question and one that I don't think we can give a definitive answer to because while I think many people felt that their move to the coast was going to be permanent and be able to work from there I think there's an increasing sense that people might be having to return to work wherever that was and so we'll have to see I think we're going to probably see a hybrid where some people are going to be able to continue to operate from their so-called zoomed towns which have have certainly benefited significantly. The small holiday towns along the east coast of the country in particular have been enormous beneficiaries of this immigration trend and our sense is that many of those homeowners would like to continue to live and effectively work from those small towns because of the lifestyle benefits of those towns afford them but I think a lot depends on what happens in the so-called hybrid workspace whether employers are going to demand that employees return to work in the northern parts of the country if that's where they came from and so I think the jury's art as to exactly whether that trend is going to reverse certainly in terms of I think what people would like to continue with that certainly like to continue to live along the coast and enjoy those and lifestyle and other benefits. Sure thank you so much for that and if you just joined us we are talking semi-gration so send remember to engage with us on the comment section so that if if there's any stories that you have around semi-gration or even comments about tonight's topic do engage with us remember 500 grand is up for grabs so make sure that you engage with us. You know as an expert in your field Dr. Andrew this these trends that come and go in the industry you know how can one prepare for such and this goes for all categories of players in in the industry in terms of how can rental agents people who are landlords people who are property investors tenants you know every single person who is in the the space how can they prepare for such trends to make sure that if you have an investment it keeps on being lucrative if you're an estate agent you keep on leasing you keep on making sure that you are just selling those houses what what advice do you have for for the property players right now? Yes I think one's just got to keep one's ear to the ground one's got to read the information that's available in terms of the property media and try and get a sense of whether a trend is transient or is going to be there for a while and I think there's been a lot of information that's been distributed around the systemic changes that have taken place not only in our market but I think markets across the world and where where the view is that those trends are certainly medium term and and potentially also long term and that gives a good indication around whether that trend is to be taken seriously or in fact it's likely to be a transient as I said. Sure and before I let you go I would just like to quickly ask you this question if you were to demigrate anywhere in South Africa apart from where you are currently where would you go? Well I think first of all I do my homework so I think it's very important to to make sure that you have as complete an understanding of a market what's happening in that market what the costs associated with moving are what are the the features that one must be aware of that are driving you so if it's education you know do your homework around the education environment if it's lifestyle make sure that you understand that and and really just take your time around the purchasing decision because it's obviously a big one probably the biggest one in most people's lives and one needs to have as as full a set of knowledge as possible before one jumps into a certain direction. Sure no definitely and you know one of the biggest stumbling blocks in property spaces affordability a lot of people sometimes bite off more than they can chew and then they don't really afford so research and making sure that they know what they're getting themselves into is one of the most important things. Any last words about immigration before I let you go? So I think there's a there's an opportunity to do a lot of desktop research before before sort of looking at a particular area and then I think it's just really important to consult as many credible people as possible to get as full a picture as possible of the particular area and that you're looking to potentially invest into and then just recognize that that property is a very hyper local environment and that values can differ from street to street values can differ even within a street and therefore it's really really important to get as much detailed information as you can and have as informed an opinion as possible before taking the plunge. Thank you so much and I think after tonight's episode and tonight's conversation people will definitely have an informed opinion thank you so much for joining us we really appreciate you taking our time in your busy schedule to join us tonight have a great night. Great pleasure thanks for you thank you. A very insightful conversation there we had with Mr Andrew Golding I'm talking same immigration so if you're considering same migrating but aren't really sure let's take a look at Brian's story and maybe this will give you that little inspiration to immigrate. Brian is 36 year old and formerly worked as a financial advisor for one of South Africa's big banks prior to the big move away from Pretoria East he had been somewhat in a dull routine he'd go to work head home play with the kids a little bit before falling asleep. Brian used to go to the office every day before COVID he liked it since it allowed him to get away from the rigors of the home life. Brian's company had to close for for two weeks due to COVID and as a result his regular routine was disrupted I've always been a routine person he says but because of COVID-19 that had to change. Brian despised the couple of weeks the first couple of weeks in lockdown since he had to work remotely he would usually complete his tasks before 2 p.m this helped because he then started spending more time with the kids going to the gym more often and even taking up cooking he was still frustrated however and he felt that there was something missing. While watching the news one day a reporter claimed that individuals were relocating after COVID in order to change their lifestyles. Brian recognised this as a change that he could need he told this he told his wife and luckily she agreed they packed their stuff and headed for Cape Town. Brian now resides in the western Cape and works from home him and his family are more happier now they enjoy their new place because of the beautiful sunset and the sunrise views the house is considerably larger than the one they had which means the kids have their own playroom upstairs where he can finally have a little bit of peace and quiet to do some work the moral of the story tonight really is that you can be like Brian and allow that change to come into your life and if you want to move do so the most important thing about it is to know what you are letting yourself into and that's it for today thank you so much for showing us love on facebook and interacting with us and sharing the post and i'm sure that you had a very good time tonight learning about immigration it is time right now to announce the winner of that 500 grand cash prize and it goes to none other than okay wait i'm reading for that drum roll all right the name is there hope mutt yeah me thank you so much hope for sharing and engaging with us we will see everyone else tomorrow right here seven p.m have a great night