Buffalo City is experiencing a record-breaking building boom with over R400 million worth of building plans approved in the first six months of this year.

City figures show that 2287 plans for new buildings and alterations to existing buildings amounting to almost R418m were approved in the first half of the year. In the same period last year 2007 plans worth R277m were approved.

"The property boom is upon us," said Craig Sam, Buffalo City municipality's development planning director.

Plans approved in July this year include the R8,7m Foxtec-Ikhwezi factory on the West Bank and the R1,7m Sea Tek factory in the East London Industrial Development Zone.

Aspen Pharmacare has been given approval for a R750,000 addition to its premises and a Meises Halt farmer plans to build a R2,6m farm shed on his property.

The city's building and alteration figures show that private home owners are splurging on their properties with scores of applications for improvements and alterations.

The boom is even leading to a squeeze on some building materials like bricks. Home owners with approved plans in hand are having to wait more than two weeks to lay their hands on bricks for their projects.

Other figures reinforce the trend. In 2000 the total value of new buildings alone came in at R186m. Last year it was at R327m, while this year, with four months to go, plans to the value of R250m have already been approved.

The figures for approved plans in the Lukhanji municipality (Queenstown and surrounding area) also show a marked increase.

Building control officer Shaun Westerberg said from January to July last year 192 plans with an estimated value of R51m had been approved - compared with 283 plans worth R69,3m for the same period this year.

Profile Brick & Tile's Derick Conlon, whose company acts as marketing agent for a number of leading suppliers, said 3,5 million bricks are being sold a month in the central East London area stretching from Kayser's Beach to Kei Mouth.

"All the bricks come from the local factories and there is a waiting period of up to 16 days for delivery," said Conlon.

Holcim Cement sales manager Wega Marchant said 2005 is headed towards being similar to 2004's strong sales - and that is before the impact of the large number of plans approved by the city comes into play.