Demand outweighs supply when it comes to real estate in the Eastern Cape region and investors are queuing up to lay their hands on prime riverfront and seaside homes.

'A positive spin-off of this situation is that sellers are becoming more realistic about pricing their properties, and are no longer expecting unachievable prices'.

A master plan to expand the East London Airport into a major terminal is being development by the ACSA.

Construction work on the 2010 soccer stadium in Mthatha could be in jeopardy as R70 million is needed before the end of this month to ensure its completion.

The stadium, next to North End Lake, is set to meet its Fifa completion deadline.

Construction work on the 2010 soccer stadium in Mthatha could be in jeopardy as R70million is needed before the end of this month.

Parts of the new Mdantsane City Mall roof were blown off by strong winds on Sunday as weather experts warned of a storm approaching East London from the Western Cape.

AFFORDABLE bulk building materials supplier Hardware Warehouse, which listed on AltX in September, yesterday reported a 73,5% increase in revenue to R103m for the six months to December.

CEO Shaun Miller said the surge in revenue was thanks to an increase in the number of stores, as well as growth from existing stores. New stores accounted for 38% of the revenue increase, and growth from existing stores made up 30%. The company delivered an 82,8% increase in headline earnings per share, from 5,3c to 9,7c.

Hardware Warehouse’s share price surged nearly 17% to 70c by about 4pm yesterday after publication of the results.

Miller said the company, which has traded for 12 years and has its head office in East London, mainly supplied affordable bulk building materials to rural communities, home builders and “more informal builders”. He said building cost inflation of about 10% was also contributing to the bottom line.

The company operates predominantly in the Border-Kei area of Eastern Cape and has also established a branch in Mtubatuba, north of Richards Bay.

“We will be expanding a number of stores in that region and are looking for opportunities in Swaziland,” said Miller.

He said the company’s market differed from the “suburban” market, where people built when they had money and in “good times”. The “suburban” market was likely to slow because of tougher economic conditions.

But Hardware Warehouse’s market consisted of people who were building homes through necessity, as they had previously lived in informal settlements. He said previously these customers were unable to borrow money, but were now receiving finance from the banks.

Eastern Cape farm land is fetching record prices and then being converted into tourist resorts, game farms and even used for holiday getaways.

South Africa’s R16bn investment in next-generation pebble bed modular reactor technology does not seem to have born fruit