Private sector real estate investment in the suburb of Richmond Hill in Port Elizabeth is rising on the back of ongoing regeneration projects, with a record 68 percent of businesses and 34 percent of home owners making improvements to their properties in 2014. 

While much has been said regarding the slowing in house price growth in recent months, the residential property market in Gauteng is a highly complex one, with sharp regional and suburban variations, and there are a number highly positive developments within the region’s property sector.

“While many South African consumers have started to feel the economic pinch in recent months, the demand for accommodation in the greater Johannesburg area has continued unabated, and this has ensured that the residential rental property market in much of the region has remained robust.

The Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to further increase the repo rate was unfortunate off the back of the January (2016) hike and given the pressing need to help stimulate growth in South Africa’s economy, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), which promotes green building development in the country, has re-elected Seana Nkhahle as its non-executive chairman and Rudolf Pienaar as non-executive deputy chairman for a second term.

With average selling prices of freehold residential property and sectional title homes increasing in value by 56 percent and 34.5 percent respectively from 2010 to 2015 (Lightstone statistics), Durban North’s property market strikes a chord with home buyers and instils investor confidence, particularly in the higher income group.

The historic home of the late Dr Johnny Mosendane, one of Soweto’s best-known public figures, has been sold by for R2.5 million, a new record price for the township.

Three homes are now completed with a further 11 homes in the final phase already well under construction in upmarket Baronetcy Estate, situated in prime position in Plattekloof in Cape Town’s popular Northern Suburbs.

Strategically-located, upmarket niche shopping complexes in Cape Town are contributing to the upswing in prices of nearby residential property and to the sales of both new and existing sectional title units.

As 2016 kicks off to a tumultuous start, perhaps one certainty is that the coastal belt from Durban North and uMhlanga through to the burgeoning Sibaya node and Umdloti is still booming.