IOL Property

A R1 billion Blended Finance Programme to formalise and scale South Africa’s burgeoning affordable rental market has been launched. The programme, launched by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and INDLU, aims to bridge the national housing gap-currently estimated at 2.3 million units-by providing sustainable, affordable credit to micro-developers who have historically been excluded from traditional banking sectors due to a perceived lack of formal collateral.

Decades ago, neighbourhoods were designed around walking and local daily life. This is because there is a lot of talk about the “15-minute city” as a modern, forward-thinking way to plan our suburbs. The family GP, the corner café, the school, and the neighbourhood park were all on or just off the same main street, a short walk from one’s front door, says Gerhard Kotze, CEO and franchisor at RealNet Properties SA.

The need for affordable housing in Cape Town and the Western Cape is undisputed. However, addressing affordability requires recognising the structural factors that make housing delivery in the province considerably more expensive than elsewhere in South Africa, says the Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF).

The Johannesburg High Court has dismissed the City of Ekurhuleni’s bid to appeal an order restoring about 570 people to an informal settlement near Benoni after the municipality accepted that they had been illegally evicted.

The lowest interest rate in a generation was not the cheapest money in a generation. In September 2020, prime sat at 7% – its lowest in decades. With inflation at 3.2%, the real cost of that debt was only 3.8%, says Prizm Property Partners. The Durban-based real estate company says that by July 2022, prime had climbed to 9% and was still rising. “Debt felt expensive. Yet with inflation at 8%, the real cost of borrowing had dropped to just 1% – the cheapest in the entire period the chart covers.

I’m pretty sure we’ve all reached a point where anything involving rent, property or real estate in Cape Town makes us naar. Another Sea Point property has been sold for a price that has the comment section and, quite frankly, the rest of us scratching our heads. Now, before anyone comes for me, I’m not here to judge someone’s home choices.

South Africa’s economic geography remains deeply shaped by apartheid spatial planning, with economic opportunities still concentrated in metropolitan areas decades into democracy. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) says that many township and rural communities continue to struggle with inadequate infrastructure, poor transport links, fragmented land-use planning, and limited productive investment.

Residential property remains materially underrepresented in institutional portfolios. That is the South African multifamily paradox: pension fund members are already supporting one of the most resilient income streams in domestic property as tenants, while their retirement capital remains largely absent from the opportunity, writes Shaila Desai, head of the Old Mutual Residential Impact Fund, in an article titled “The growing case for multifamily residential in South African property portfolios”.

Well-located development land has become increasingly sought after by developers, land bankers, institutions and private investors looking to secure tomorrow’s opportunities at today’s prices. As South Africa’s cities expand and infrastructure investment continues to reshape growth corridors, says Greg Dart, the director at The High Street Auction Co. He says development land is one of the few asset classes where value is created-not simply acquired.

International property buyers are no longer looking at South African luxury homes as investments only, but also as places to live, work remotely, holiday and return to year after year. While foreign buyers still make up a small percentage of South Africa’s overall housing market, new Lightstone data shows growing uptake in the luxury price bands.