Property shares appear to be settling around 15% below their level of late last year, disconnecting from the recovery in the overall JSE

Merger and takeover activity in South Africa's listed property market is expected to hot up considerably over the next few months as dominant players vie more aggressively than ever for a slice of the JSE's R105bn real estate sector

Listed property fund Hyprop's pounce on a 31% stake in fellow fund Sycom shows that the battle for size and dominance in this sector continues

A global shortage of specialised retail property expertise often causes top South African talent to be lured abroad , exacerbating the skills shortage in SA

Madison Property Fund Managers has again exceeded market expectations with its interim distribution to unitholders of 36 cents per linked unit for the six-months to 30 June 2007

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has its sights set on becoming a major player in the R100bn listed property sector - which will no doubt prompt plenty of corporate action from the Government-owned pension fund manager over the coming months.

The property loan stock index of the JSE trades up to 1,360 points around a week ago, but closes having sunk to around the 1,260 level today on higher than expected inflation data and raised expectations of a rate hike.

Octodec and Premium have over the past few years consistently managed to outperform other listed property loan stocks (PLSs) and property unit trusts (PUTs)

The price of listed property fund ApexHi's C units are up a staggering 245% in six months. Not too shabby a return for investors who bought the stock at listing in October 2006 as a higher-risk alternative to ApexHi's existing A and B units. C units closed at 280c on listing day and touched 690c/share last Wednesday.

Australian-based global property and infrastructure giant Macquarie looks likely to lose its bid for control of Grayprop, SA's second-biggest listed property fund, and with it a dramatic entry into the SA property market.