Over the past five years, unsuspecting investors have poured more than R5 billion into property syndications in South Africa. However, these investment schemes are fraught with danger, and the cracks are beginning to show.

On the back of soaring property prices and low interest rates, property syndications have undergone a revival in recent years. But a slowdown in the property market is likely to expose the flaws in these investment schemes...

South Africa's residential building costs inflation slowed to 4.7% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2007 from the revised 10% in the third quarter, and well down from the 38.8% peak reached in the third quarter of 2006, new data showed.

The FNB Q4 Commercial Property Finance Residential Building Cost Index reflects the average building cost per square metre, as priced by building contractors when winning tenders.

The average building cost per square metre was measured at 5,264 rand in the fourth quarter.

"This slowdown is believed to be reflective of a residential property market increasingly under pressure from the lengthy period of interest rate hiking, along with a slowing economy.

"One would expect contractor pricing power to suffer as a result," said John Loos, a property strategist at First National Bank.

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When one looks back over the years of economic or property data, it is possible to identify certain spikes or troughs which may be associated with a certain event. The early-1980s house price surge could be termed the “Gold Boom Effect”, or one could call one of the slumps in the rand in the late-1990s the “Emerging Markets Crisis Effect”...

Fancy buying that unique house with the perspex dome for a roof so that you can watch the stars at night? Beware - you may get stuck with your private observatory for much longer than you want, because no one else can get a bond to buy it.

"Banks look at properties as security for home loans and are not really interested in the aesthetics you may find pleasing - they are primarily concerned about resale potential," says Berry Everitt, MD of the Chas Everitt International property group...

First-time home buyers in South Africa are getting older - largely because they are adopting a "wait and see" approach towards rising interest rates before abandoning the less financially restrictive rental market.

But the majority, when they did buy, opted for properties in the R460 000 to R470 000 range, which were still "reasonably affordable" and, with a bond repayment of between R4 000 and R5 000, on a par with the rental market, according to Jeanne van Jaarsveldt, marketing and financial director for real estate agency Re/Max...

If you had R1-million to spare where would you invest? What if you had R25-million? Which property would you buy? These are some of the questions that propertygenie.co.za, South Africa’s largest online property search portal that lists over 130 000 properties nationwide, recently posed in an online poll.

According to the poll residential property is the asset most South Africans would buy in if they had R1-million rand to invest, while a wine estate in Paarl is the dream property most South Africans would buy if they had R25-million to spend...

Property sellers will be obliged to be realistic about their asking prices in 2008 as a "rampant" buyers' market will hold sway for much of the year, with at least one and possibly two more interest rate increases in the pipeline.

However towards the end of the year, the Reserve Bank should start easing interest rates once more, giving the market a moderate kick start again but without the runaway price inflation witnessed at the market's peak three years ago, says Martin Schultheiss, CEO of the Homenet property group...

Rustenburg being one of the oldest towns in the province is well established with many fine holiday resorts. The temperature is a good four or five degrees warmer than Gauteng.

It is a malaria-free and relatively crime-free area and is only a ninety minute drive from both Johannesburg and Pretoria. No wonder this region is a favourite getaway for Gauteng residents!

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CONSTANTIA'S "SOUTHERN COMFORT" COMES ON THE MARKET

Marianne Price and Lana Redman, who together sell homes in the Upper Constantia area on behalf of Anne Porter Knight Frank, the Claremont headquartered estate agency, have secured buyers for one of Constantia's best known homes, "Southern Comfort"...

Launch of Overseas Property Sales Company - A first in South Africa

Marketing South African real estate internationally remains a committed focus of Chas Everitt but now the leading property group is bringing the world of international property investment to South Africans.

The launch of this venture is well timed due to the convergence of a number of factors, chief amongst these being...

The Property Manager provides you with a very extensive and detailed list of criteria which you can capture for your property listings and gives you the control to decide how you would want these properties to be displayed on the Internet

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If you would like to know more about the above features and benefits that CyberAgent offer, visit: www.cyberagent.co.za or email: sales@cyberprop.com

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