SOUTH Africans should not get too nervous about property when things go too well, SA Property Owners Association President TC Chetty told the 38th SAPOA convention in Durban yesterday.
Chetty commented on a bumper year where returns on property outperformed bonds and cash.
Chetty said SAPOA continues to work closely with government at all levels on addressing the issue of low cost housing.
Frank Berkeley, MD of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, said activity in residential property had levelled out, which “is a welcomed soft landing”.
“Currently, quality industrial space is at a premium,” he notes.
Berkeley says office space is in demand and vacancies, especially in the Sandton area, are dropping.
He adds the shortage of quality developers and building costs make it too expensive to build and office rentals are rising.
Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu MP, was not able to make it but her speech was read to the conference by Tozamile Botha.
Sisulu said the extreme differences in the quality of services and houses in urban areas, compared to other areas, remained a problem.
“As long as around 60% of the population are excluded from property ownership, it is a potentially revolutionary situation,” she added.
Wolfgang Grulke, FutureWorld International Ltd CEO stunned the audience with a presentation on China in the 21st century. He said for the next decade, the country would continue to be an economic dragon but eventually, competition would force its labour-intensive industries to automate, driving millions out of work.
“China and India are changing the way the whole world does business, forcing us to capitalise on a borderless ‘flat world’,” he said.
Grulke doesn’t expect the growth in China to continue. He adds that India will grow fasted than expected and within two years, India will outperform China”.
In an interactive session, developers and architects had strong views on design trends within South Africa with debates on “Tuscan horrors and borrowed European themes”.
“We don’t have an urban culture like the rest of the world but still have an infatuation with Tuscan designs,” said Ora Joubert, Head of Department at the University of Pretoria.
Property players agreed there needed to be a symbiosis between design, marketability and a good return on your money.
It is not all about taste, says Jo Noero, partner at Noero Wolf Architects.
“Today, the world is ruled by liberal democracy and it is virtually impossible to reach agreement on public art,” he added.
The seminar was held at Durban’s International Convention Centre.
