Realestateweb - South African property market corrections - Property talk - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - South African property market corrections - Property talk - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

South Africa is experiencing a property market correction. The question is whether it is or has been on the same scale as has been experienced in the USA during the last 3 years. The American dream has in some states unfortunately changed into an American nightmare.

Gareth Shepperson

Realestateweb - Real estate giant Capital & Counties issues new shares - Listed - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - Real estate giant Capital & Counties issues new shares - Listed - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

JSE listed Capital and Counties Properties PLC (Capco) has issued new shares worth more than R18.6m. The placing price will be determined through an accelerated bookbuild launched on May 5 2011. A third of the company's shareholders are South African.

A company statement says the proceeds will predominantly be used to fund acquisitions at Covent Garden and for ongoing repositioning of assets at its central London estate. Capco says it has identified a number of potential acquisitions of various sizes that the board believes will become available in coming months.

Capco is a non-mining rand hedge on the JSE with its asset base in and around the London city centre. It's been responsible for the revamping of the historic Covent Garden on the eastern fringes of the West End and areas of the populous Earls Court district.

Covent Garden reportedly hosted foot traffic of 45m last year alone. It has mainly been associated with the former fruit and vegetable market located in the central square which is now a popular shopping and tourist site. Capco has concentrated its efforts on rejuvenating both Covent Garden and Earls Court and has its sights set on peripheral properties for refurbishment and development.

The company's ultimate aim is to improve rental levels at Covent Garden with the board seeing ongoing repositioning of assets at its estate.

Realestateweb - Seeff tries to rescue Golf & Leisure - Listed - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - Seeff tries to rescue Golf & Leisure - Listed - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Due to the fact that I have already been consulted by one of the Fractional Companies involved in this whole disaster, I have been following and continue to follow developments closely. My Client appears to be one of the few lucky ones (at this stage) but investigations continue.

Gareth Shepperson

Africa’s growth beats global average - World Economic Forum | Moneyweb

Africa’s growth beats global average - World Economic Forum | Moneyweb

I guess the words of the Shakira FIFA World Cup song come to mind "It's time for Africa!"

The World Economic Forum’s Africa summit opened on Wednesday with the launch of the Africa Competitiveness Report, 2011. The report, the third produced so far, takes stock of Africa’s competitiveness in relation to other regional economic hubs.

Realestateweb - Financial wizardry in R3.5bn property scheme - Investment insights - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - Financial wizardry in R3.5bn property scheme - Investment insights - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

A picture of financial wizardry is emerging at Picvest (formerly PIC Syndications), one of the country’s biggest property investment schemes. Despite assurances that investors’ assets are rock solid, there is no proof provided to back up these claims.

Please also see my previous Blog postings on this topic.

Gareth Shepperson

Home loans advances still sluggish

The growth in home loans advances remained sluggish but the total value of outstanding credit balances in the country’s household sector increased by 7,4% year-on-year (y/y) to R1 127,8-billion according to figures released by the South African Reserve Bank yesterday.


The number of new home loans being granted will remain sluggish for the rest of this year as consumers battle to afford or qualify for finance.
Total household credit comprises instalment sales agreements, leasing finance, mortgage advances, overdrafts, credit card debt and general loans and advances.

According to Jacques du Toit, senior property analyst at Absa Home Loans, the growth in the total value of outstanding mortgage balances – both for commercial and residential bonds – dropped by 2,9% y/y.

“It was the lowest year-on-year growth on record since 1966,” says Du Toit. “On a monthly basis, total mortgage balances were down by R1,6-billion or 0,2%,” he adds.

“The mortgage balances in the corporate sector comprise about 26,5% of the total market value of R1 046-billion and showed that in this sector, mortgage finance recorded growth of just 2,9% y/y in March, a record low,” he says.

Du Toit points out that mortgage balances in the household sector – largely related to residential properties – recorded growth of 4,3% y/y, up from 4,1% in February. The value of the bonds was R4,5-billion.

“Despite the fact that interest rates are at their lowest level in 35 years, the housing market is still experiencing relatively tough conditions. These are driven by various factors that impact on the consumers’ ability to afford housing and qualify for a mortgage bond,” says Du Toit.

He says there are still high levels of debt in relation to household income and a large percentage of consumers have impaired credit records. “Rising transport costs, higher food prices also contribute to the inability of consumers to qualify for mortgage finance,” says Du Toit.

He forecast that growth in mortgage advances as a component of household credit will record single-digit growth for the coming year.

Death of the salesmen - Money Matters | Moneyweb

Death of the salesmen - Money Matters | Moneyweb

Thousands of investors have been severely affected by the recent collapse of various property syndications around South Africa. Whenever something like this happens, people always want to know how this could have happened and who is responsible.

See some of my previous posts on Picvest and Sharemax.

Gareth Shepperson

Rebosis offers black exposure in property - Property | Moneyweb

Rebosis offers black exposure in property - Property | Moneyweb

Rebosis, built up from scratch by CEO Sisa Ngebulana (pictured above), offers as unique selling points a large exposure to the rising black-middle class through strategically located retail developments.

Realestateweb - Increase in first time home buyers - Residential - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - Increase in first time home buyers - Residential - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

The FNB House Price Index (HPI) for April has shown a significant increase in the number of first time buyers between the 2nd quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011. According to the index, first time buyers as a percentage of total buyers rose to 22% from 17% over the past four quarters.

FNB house price index grows 2,2%

The FNB house price index has recorded 2,2% growth year on year (y/y) in April from the revised 1,2% in March.

The bank said this was the second successive month of mild acceleration in y/y house price growth, triggered by the lagged result of interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank late in 2010.

"Those rate cuts caused a mild uptick in residential demand which may have been more than just the usual summer seasonal factors," said FNB property strategist John Loos.

In real terms, however, adjusted for consumer price inflation, the y/y decline continued to the tune of -2,8% in March.

"However, the FNB valuers' market strength index suggests that our valuers have started to see further deterioration in the strength of demand versus supply during April, after some small signs of stabilisation in preceding months of 2011. This weakening in the market balance is the combined result of a further strengthening in the supply of residential stock on the market during the month, along with a weakening in demand, according to the valuers' combined opinion," he said.

"The contrast between the valuers' combined opinion and a slight acceleration in year-on-year price growth suggests that we should not expect too much from the slight rise in price growth. What is probably being reflected in the recent house price trend is the mild residential demand improvement late in 2010, which was the result of two late-2010 interest rate cuts.

"However, the last rate cut was five-and-a-half months ago in November, and it is likely that the impact is starting to wear thin," he said. - I-NetBridge

Conveyancers slam Sars' transfer duty e-filing : Property News from IOLProperty

Conveyancers slam Sars' transfer duty e-filing : Property News from IOLProperty

Criticism about the functionality of the new property transfer duty e-filing system introduced by the SA Revenue Service (Sars) last month has escalated.

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) on Friday added its voice to complaints that serious problems were being experienced by conveyancers with the new system.

Adrian Lackay, a spokesman for Sars, earlier last week denied there were any problems with the new system and maintained it was working normally.

I don't know who Adrian Lackay is BUT I would like to tell him that the system has several faults and that the staff at the SARS call centre are TOTALLY UNTRAINED in its use!

Why would you actually pay someone whose only ability/skill is to give you a reference number and tell you that a consultant will revert to you????

Why would these staff tel you that a consultant will contact you within 48 hours when they have no intention of doing so????

Why when a consultant eventually contacts you would a technical guy contact you, only to admit that he can only answer IT questions and actually has ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWLEDGE of Transfer Duty regulations????

Why would they then suggest that you take up the matter with the local SARS office when the office is is Cape Town and you are in Pretoria????

Why when you eventually get through to the local SARS office do they tell you that they can't take calls from the public and refer you back to the call centre ... WHICH WAS WHERE YOU STARTED????

Why would you have an e-mail help service that is incapable of even acknowledging receipt of your query????

Why would SARS give a damn???

Gareth Shepperson

What’s happening with property? - Property | Moneyweb

What’s happening with property? - Property | Moneyweb

Property funds and property stocks listed on the JSE have shown outstanding growth over the past few years. And this with substantially less volatility than the current boomer: mining and resources

Realestateweb - Affordable housing in demand - Residential - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Realestateweb - Affordable housing in demand - Residential - South Africa's fastest-growing property website

Demand for affordable housing in South Africa far outweighs affordable housing stock, particularly for properties with values below R200 000, where potential demand is in the millions.

South Africa vs the world - The Burning Question | Moneyweb

South Africa vs the world - The Burning Question | Moneyweb

At the end of 2010, South Africa was formally inducted into the group after some intense lobbying, and the group became, officially, BRICS. This inclusion promises to give South Africa a prominent spot in world economic debates, and to put it firmly into global league tables. The question is, how does South Africa stack up against its BRICS and emerging market peers, and against the rest of the world?