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Buying a house in rands vs bitcoin

September 8, 2025

Check the graph below which shows the cost of an average South African home purchased for R1 million in 2017 and then escalated in value by the average price increase over the intervening seven years.

What this demonstrates is the deflationary power of bitcoin (BTC). A house that originally cost nearly 16 BTC in 2017 is now worth R1.23 million in ZAR and just 0.6 BTC.

Here’s another way to read this chart: you were better off investing in BTC than a house. Sure houses have utility and emotion all wrapped up in a neat little bundle, but you could also have rented over the last seven years and rather bought 16 BTC back in 2017.

Had you done that your original investment of R1 million (16 BTC) would today be worth R32 million.

It’s a discussion our children and grandchildren will no doubt have for decades to come. “If only I bought bitcoin when it was at R2 million!” 

Let that sink in for a moment.

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