Based on data released by Statistics South Africa, private sector-financed building activity in the South African market for new housing continued to show divergent trends in the first four months of 2019, which might be related to lags in reporting.

The first quarter of 2019 saw significant diverging trends at a segment level in private sector financed residential building activity in South Africa.

Private sector-financed building activity (see explanatory note) in the South African market for new housing showed continued diverging trends on specifically a segment level in the first eight months of 2018, which caused the planning phase of new housing to have improved whereas the construction phase has contracted over this period.