The way in which we work and live has been steadily changing since the millennium and, accelerated by the disruption of the pandemic, it’s now very different than it was just a decade ago and real estate footprints are already being planned for a different and more flexible future.

Local and international migration have undoubtedly been driving forces in the South African property market during the past decade and their recent resurgence after travel and lockdown restrictions were eased have come as no surprise.

According to Yael Geffen, CEO of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, the decision by the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 4% is not unexpected.

Yael Geffen, CEO of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, welcomed the government backtracking in this budget speech on its earlier decision to increase personal income tax, as well as providing a further R2.2 billion in tax relief through raising personal income tax brackets and rebates by 5%.

Although the pandemic hasn’t yet abated as we had all hoped and 2021 looks to be more of the same, interestingly, instead of increased pessimism, a December survey of global executives by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) found that even in the short-term optimism is growing with the highest levels of optimism now being detected since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Urbanisation has been a major watchword of the 21st century, with 55% of the world’s population already living in urban areas and numbers expected to increase to almost 70% by 2050, however, the course of urbanisation is likely to be significantly altered by several forcible disrupters.

A number of significant amendments to the City of Cape Town’s Municipal Planning By-laws of 2015 were promulgated this month (3 February), impacting both home owners and property owners in the hospitality industry who offer short-term and holiday accommodation.

Whilst we may not yet have discovered the long-coveted elixir of eternal youth, the truth is that humans are now getting older than ever before; we are living longer, leading more active lives and, as a result, the 60-plus age group is far more independent than their predecessors.

A decade of corporate semigration and decentralisation fuelled the Winelands commercial sector, with increased demand boosting development, however, this has begun to taper off,

precipitating a number of significant market shifts.

A decade of corporate semigration and decentralisation fuelled the Winelands commercial sector, with increased demand boosting development, however, this has begun to taper off,precipitating a number of significant market shifts.