 The contributing factors as to what makes a specific area popular to live in depends on many different things. Location plays a very big part in where we choose to call home. Today we have our property expert Simon Bray, CEO of Private Property in the studio, to talk us through the most popular areas in South Africa. Simon, great to have you on the show this morning and it's all about location. What do you say makes the most popular areas? Well, it's an interesting thing. Private Property has all of the property on the market at any one time on its website. So we get to see a lot of these different properties and listings from across the country. When we talk about popularity though, we don't talk about it in terms of fashionable or the hottest spot or anything like that. The word popular for us is actually how many people are looking for property in that particular area at this time. So we take all the listings, we divide it by all the views that we're seeing on those particular listings and we come up with this kind of popularity score for suburbs. And it's quite interesting because you see areas pop up that you may not usually think about, but it's obviously where the market really has demand. Yeah, it's all about where the demand is and on your website, which areas have been the most popular? Well, what's interesting, I mean obviously khao ting is the bulk of the popularity. A lot of people looking to move into khao ting or move around within khao ting so some of the big names pop up there. But some interesting names in Western Cape and Khaizaden as well. Soweto is our most popular suburb on the site and that's really an interesting story because you're seeing that affordable market really grow in South Africa and so we're seeing the value in that end of the market really get excited. And what other areas in the khao ting region has been deemed popular and why do you think it's been like that? I think it's sticking with this theme of affordability. The economic situation in the country is a little bit pressurised. People are looking for the next step in their housing journey, but they're looking very much for affordability. So areas like Northcliffe, which is a more traditional suburb in Joburg, and Rosebank Parktown, some of the older homes, they very much invoke at the moment a lot of people in those types of areas who are looking for property at the moment. And in the Western Cape, which areas would you say has been very popular? Well, I mean, that's also interesting. Not names that you would usually think of. You think of City Bowl or something like that and that gets a lot of attention, but the Cape Flats actually is the most in-demand area in the Cape region and I think that's largely because there just isn't enough stock there. Not enough new development, new listings coming onto the market to see the supplier start to catch up with the demand that's out there. And the traditional suburbs in the Cape obviously do very well. You've got the leafy southern suburbs, it's always very much in demand. Goodwood, Parrow, those areas, still great affordability in that market so people are really interested in them. And if you're interested in those types of suburbs and it's that affordable market that you're looking at, you really have to get on the website, you have to sign up for email alerts, you have to make sure that you know about all the listings first because there is just that much demand happening in that sector. Yes, and when it is such a, like you said, it's a popular area, wouldn't that increase the prices of the property? You would think so, but I think half the reason people are looking is because the prices are perhaps not as high as some of the other areas, but certainly over time demand drives the prices up. OK, and not excluding KZN, which property, well, which areas would you say are the most popular? KZN is fascinating actually. What's happened recently is a lot of businesses have moved out of the city centre and they've moved into the north. Nodes like Amschlanger and Belita are really growing, particularly from a commercial property point of view. So Durban's inner city is actually one of the more in-demand residential areas now on the site. You're seeing a lot of those big buildings being converted into flat blocks and so that's driving a resurgence in the Durban property market and that's a very popular part of Durban. I never would have thought that Durban Centre would become the popular place. Well, thank you Simon for sharing all of that. It's great having you on the Expresso Show. It was great to be here, thanks. Now whether you are looking to rent or buy, Private Property can help you find a home for everyone. Simply log on to the website privateproperty.co.z and let the journey begin. They also offer a great service where you can find out all about the different neighbourhoods in our country to help you with your decision.