PURSUING its growth plan which is designed to add some 20% annually to its asset base and turnover, Spearhead Property Holdings, the JSE-listed property loan stock company, has formed a joint venture with the Lukhanyo group, one of the fastest growing black empowerment companies in South Africa.

Amid choppy seas, the sector offers relative security, writes John Sukazi

PROPERTY'S underlying value as a defensive investment opportunity will continue to attract investor focus despite a volatile environment characterised by high interest rates, says Andre Stadler, managing director of Catalyst Securities.

Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop) has announced the acquisition of 13 commercial properties to the value of R161 million.

South Africas big three property unit trusts (PUTs), Grayprop, Martprop and Sycom, are preparing to launch a joint take over bid for listed property loan stock (PLS) fund Primegro. It could be the first of a number of such deals in the property sector this year.

Shops for Africa, the focused retail property company that listed in the JSE property loan stock sector in July 2001, is aiming to more than treble the value of its portfolio to R1-billion.

But listed sector is starting to offer good buying opportunities for investors

Major growth forecast as the listed property sector reports above-average returns THE South African listed property sector presents an attractive opportunity to investors and is likely to follow the trend in Australia, where the property sector has shown enormous growth on the Australian Stock Exchange, says Richway Retail Properties CEO Peter Blanckenberg.

PRIMEGRO SET TO DOMINATE RETAIL PROPERTY OWNERSHIP

PARAMOUNT Property Fund on the Acquisition Trail Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop), listed on the JSE Securities exchange earlier this year and rated one of South Africa's top property funds, is on the acquisition trail to boost its portfolio of properties to R1-billion by end October.