Lifestyle factors are expected to cushion Gisborne against the worst effects of the widely-predicted slump in property values, with weather cited as the main factor attracting people to the East Coast.

Real Estate Institute president Murray Cleland said this week property values could fall by more than 10 percent in the months ahead. BNZ economist Tony Alexander is putting the figure at nearly three times that amount, with the BNZ warning the Government against increasing the supply of houses when the market is diving...

Shaun le Roux looks at investment possibilities in the current blustery markets.

Hum for a Blustery Day - Winnie the Pooh

Hum dum dum ditty dum
Hum dum dum
Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it's rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
It feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today

When things are going well, economists like to talk of “tailwinds”, whilst economic challenges are referred to as “headwinds”. Markets around the world have moved sharply from having a nice steady breeze at their backs, to facing into the teeth of a category five hurricane. Nowhere is this more the case than in South Africa...

South African house prices fell in March for the first time in eight years, with the average house price down to R550000 from R570000 in February.

Standard Bank’s Residential Property Gauge released yesterday showed the decline reflected a year-on-year decline of -5.2 percent growth in the average pricing of residential properties...

The contract is signed and sealed and you are making plans for the big move to your new home – but when does it actually become yours?

This question confuses many buyers, probably because the date of occupation does not always coincide with the date of possession, says Martin Schultheiss, CEO of the giant Homenet estate agency group...

‘The final nail in the coffin of home affordability’.

That’s how Mike Bennett, Managing Director of Durban’s largest independent property group, ProProp, describes eThekwini Municipality’s proposed new rating system. He says the new system, which advocates home owners paying R0.009 for every Rand in the value of the property, will see rates in some suburbs rise by up to 140 percent.

“While the theoretical value of the rates increase is around 15 percent, in reality it’s in excess of 100 percent in some areas occupied by our new middle class — policemen, nurses, teachers and bank admin staff,” says Bennett...

Rawson MD says government should be using its reserves to limit rate rises

It is now probable that next week’s meeting of the SA Reserve Bank will result in a further interest rate hike – and, says Tony Clarke, MD of Rawson Properties, this time it is likely to be a full 100 base points (i.e. 1%) taking the interest rate to 15,5%. This, he says, is the inevitable consequence of the current 9,4% CPIX inflation rate...

Those who think that the one million plus South Africans now living in the UK have turned their backs on their home country could not be more wrong, says Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank.

“We have,” said Steward recently, “been in touch with two organisations marketing property in SA primarily to South African expatriates and it is quite clear that a high percentage (perhaps 10%) either already has bought property in SA or intends to do so. One survey shown to us indicates that 32% of UK based South Africans plan to buy here and that many already own two, three or more properties in SA.”

Building material retailers should benefit from growth in the affordable housing segment as middle- to upper-income residential developments slow, analysts say.

The lower end of the market, which is less exposed to credit, seems to have scope for growth as the middle-income sector finds itself constrained by debt...

Of all the factors influencing the values of upper bracket residential property probably none is more powerful than horses.

“In my view,” said Mike Greeff, Chief Executive of Greeff Properties recently, “horses are greedy, expensive luxuries, dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle, but the plain truth is that whenever a property has paddocks, stabling and access to riding trails it becomes eminently desirable and sought after - so much so that in our business we have never had enough equestrian homes to meet the demand.”

Reader: Hi, I'm Joe from **** Cleaners. A friend asked me to find out if it is compulsory to have a rental cleaned when the tenant moves out? If so does it say so on your contract? In other words does it say that the house will be spotless for the next tenant and that you will have it done for the tenant? Your help in this matter would be appreciated. Thanks, Joe

Editor: If you have an answer for Joe send it to news@cyberprop.com

Robertson is well-known as the Garden Town of the Boland of South Africa and is situated in the fertile Breede River valley, only 160km from Cape Town on the popular Route 62.

Situated at the foot of the Langeberg Mountains, Robertson offers the visitor wine estates, hiking trails, nature reserves, a riverside holiday resort, racehorse stud farms and above all exceptional hospitality.

>> View Properties in the Western Cape
>> View Properties in Robertson

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Housing agency to be functional by year end

Johannesburg – The Housing Development Agency, which aims to double the number of houses being built, will be fully operational by the end of the year, says Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

“The Bill was passed by the parliament’s housing portfolio committee and I hope it would be up and running by June,” she said told BuaNews when asked about the progress on the project’s implementation...

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