Cash gives confidence
21 September 2007
With SA property likely to continue giving double-digit returns over the next five years, should you bother to look offshore?
It looks as if the British commercial property market is about to follow the slide of its residential market. With SA property likely to continue giving double-digit returns over the next five years, should you bother to look offshore? Read more
Property exposure climbing
13 September 2007
In the nineties, most institutions and pension funds were getting shot of large chunks of their property portfolios. Property – both direct and listed – was generally rated as the worst asset class to be in back then, as an oversupply of commercial space kept a firm lid on rental and capital growth.
Subsequently, institutional investment in property as a percentage of total assets dropped from an average 10% in the early Nineties to less than 4% a decade later. Read more
Recognising the next best thing
11 September 2007
With the residential property cycle having levelled off and heading for a downswing, buyers still wanting to invest should learn to spot up-and-coming areas.
With many a wise word often spoken in jest, investors will joke that they know an area is about to take off when it gets its own Woolworths Food Store and a branch of Pam Golding Properties. This often isn’t that far from the truth, says property economist Erwin Rode of Rode & Associates. Read more
What has happened to building costs?
5 September 2007
Commercial building cost inflation has slowed down markedly from its peak of 37% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2005, to the 16% recorded for the first quarter of 2007, but it is still high relative to consumer inflation
This is good news for investors in Property Unit Trusts (PUTs)Read more
Safe as office blocks
3 September 2007
Property fundamentals remain strong amid nervous markets
Results from the property sector for the year or half-year to June confirm the strength of SA’s listed property funds and the underlying fundamentals.
The largest listed property fund, Growthpoint, with assets valued at R22bn, reported an annual 14,5% increase in distribution per linked unit to 93,1c. Hyprop, the retail-focused property fund with assets of R8,5bn, reported an 18% improved interim distribution of 130c. Results from SA Corp, Emira and iFour backed the trend. Read more
Office Property Market set to shine
24 August 2007
The SA economy is expected to show growth of 4.5% to 5% p.a. over the next 18 months. This is likely to drive demand for office space; however supply will remain constrained while vacancies are coming down
Neno Haasbroek, CEO of Sycom Property Fund, explains: “Sustained economic growth at this level will have a definite impact on demand for office space which will drive rentals upwards.” However, he says that the main question remains how rapidly demand will or can be satisfied by new developments. Read more
Hikes ‘no lid on rentals’
22 August 2007
Will the commercial property development boom be halted by the uncertain interest rate environment?
Property analysts do not think so, saying any additional costs from a rising interest rate environment will be passed on to prospective tenants by developers raising rentals. Read more
Rental space demand set to rise
21 August 2007
Property developers in all fields – commercial, retail, industrial and residential – are likely to be able to cash in on an increased demand for rental space in the next two to three years.
“I agree with what Dr Azar Jammine said at the recent Nedbank economy review talks. I think that the monetary authorities may have to accept that the previous inflation targets are no longer totally realistic and that a median figure of 6% to 7% will now be the reality – for at least one year,” says Timothy Irvine, regional director of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance (Cape). Read more
Industrial land values become moving targets
13 August 2007
Industrial land values are now in the same prime position that residential property found itself in during the last few years.
At some stages of the recent residential upswing, property values were changing at such a rapid pace that it became risky to use recent sales to establish current market value. The same can now be said of industrial stand values, which are being propelled to new highs daily by low industrial vacancies, strong demand, high building costs, and hence, strong rental growth. Read more
- Rode.co.za – Source