The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is set to hold the repo rate at the 23-25 March meeting, according to a unanimous vote by 25 economists on Finder’s repo rate forecast report.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, property stocks in general took a significant hit, where retail and commercial office space – and even some industrial property holdings – were affected. In contrast, lower-income affordable housing – and inner-city housing in particular – has performed better than most other property markets in South Africa over the same period.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address was lacklustre at best, failing dismally to reassure investors that the country has tangible short- to medium-term plans to effect an economic turn-around, comments Joff van Reenen, Director of specialist real estate auction company, High Street Auctions.

After the worst economic downturn in decades, further dampened by the recent tightening of lockdown restrictions in response to the second wave of the pandemic and the recommencement of load shedding, economic growth – while admittedly coming off a low base - is still widely expected to show some positive growth of around 3% this year.

Gerhard Kotzé, MD of the RealNet estate agency group, says that while the real estate sector is currently performing very well in spite of the major contraction in the economy this year.

South-African focused JSE-listed diversified REIT, Dipula Income Fund, today announced results for the year ended 31 August 2020 against a backdrop of substantial economic headwinds, exacerbated by Covid-19 (or “the pandemic”) related lockdown measures (“the lockdown measures”.)

The Minister of Finance hit the nail on the head when he said that it is not only investors who need confidence, but also the average South African, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

In a thought-provoking virtual seminar hosted today, over 200 industry stakeholders joined the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) Investment Seminar to discuss the urgent solutions needed to address South Africa’s high-density social housing challenges and revitalise the country’s economy.

Latest GDP figures have laid bare the grim reality of COVID-19’s economic effects, revealing an unprecedented 51% decline in economic activity in the second quarter of this year (quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualised).

All eyes will be watching to see how the latest GDP figures impact the MPC’s interest rate decision next week, as well as eagerly awaiting the upcoming October Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).