SHEPPERSON'S FIRST LAW

Property Mogul - Issue 2 - now out The first piece of investment advice I received was when I turned 18. My father told me that I must invest a third of my savings in property, another third in equity and the remaining third in cash. This investment philosophy was pretty ubiquitous in the 1980s and explains why so many South Africans still firmly believe that property investments, especially residential investments, should form the foundation of investment strategies. However, the market has changed significantly over the past 20 years. Apart from many regulatory changes, which had a negative impact on investment-focus residential properties, the listed property sector has consistently been one of the best performing sectors of the JSE.

Affordable housing construction lags The lack of suitable affordable housing stock continues to bedevil the banking sector's ability to increase primary market end user finance, according to FNB chief executive Jacques Cilliers. “Unless we overcome supply side challenges for new builds, lenders, despite their willingness and ability to provide end user housing finance to new homeowners, will continue to be hamstrung by insufficient housing supply,” Cilliers told a banking summit on Friday. The theme of the summit was “A Partnership for Housing Delivery”.

The folly of holding on for too long The price only rises so far.   A wise investor once said: we all make mistakes when it comes to investing. Being wrong is not the problem, but staying wrong is. I have been living on the Dainfern Golf Estate for more than 20 years. Over the years I have bought and sold many stands and properties on the estate and it would be fair to say that I know it well. As Dainfern developed over time, good stands became increasingly scarce. One in particular caught my attention. It was one of the last stands with a river view and was owned by a retired estate agent who always claimed that he was going to hit the jackpot with the site.