BOTSWANA – FOREIGN BUYER TRANSFER DUTY UPPED TO 30% FURTHER HAMPERS RECOVERY
While Botswana experienced two lockdown periods (6-weeks in March to May and a further 2-weeks in June), Julie Denyer, a director for Seeff Botswana, says the Transfer Duty Act Amendment of 2019, effective from the 1st March has exasperated the situation.
It introduced a 30% transfer duty (the highest in the world) on sales to foreign buyers (compared to 5% for citizens), effectively halting sales to foreign buyers. The banks are also concerned about the ongoing effects and potential house prices dropping drastically, she says.
While there has been some recovery in the local market, mostly the P1.25 million to P2.5 million price range, and while the interest rate has dropped to 6.5%, the banks are working on plus two percent, and buyers are facing tough criteria.