NCA on agenda at Rode Conference

The new National Credit Act and the impact it has on the South African property scene will be one of the numerous highlights at the upcoming annual Rode Conference on Property in South Africa, to be held in Cape Town and Johannesburg in September.

The talk "Practical implications of the National Credit Act for the property market" will be presented by John Gilchrist, a practicing attorney, notary and conveyancer who regularly addresses the Institute of Estate Agents in South Africa. Gilchrist is also the editor of Finance and Manage your Home Loan, soon to be republished under the title My Mortgage.

This presentation will be complemented by "South African Residential Property – The Fat Lady Ain't Sung; it's not the end of the show" – a talk to be delivered at the conference by John Loos, property strategist with First National Bank's commercial banking division.

Joining his colleague John Loos at the Rode Conference, will be chief economist of First National Bank, Dr Cees Bruggemans, who will address delegates on "Prospects for the economy".

This will be followed by Dries du Toit's presentation on "The current decade and beyond – a scenario approach". Du Toit is today an independent investment consultant with the firm Dries du Toit Consult, having spent a number of years with Sanlam, where he became the company's chief investment strategist before going independent.

Professor André Roux, the director of the Institute for Futures Research at the University of Stellenbosch, will also be a participant at the Rode Conference this year, with a presentation entitled "A brief history of the future: a story of paradoxes and contradictions".

In turn, Chris Bosch, director of Rural Maintenance (Pty) Ltd will present a number of case studies around his talk entitled "How landlords can save electricity".

Both the Cape Town and Johannesburg one-day annual Rode Conferences on Property in South Africa will see Dr Charles Martin, senior economist at the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) at the University of Stellenbosch, acting as master of ceremonies. Dr Martin is the author of several publications and acts as a consulting economist to approximately 40 large South African companies, government departments and other organisations.

In addition to the line-up of guest speakers, renowned property economist and professional valuer Erwin Rode will present his 2007 "Prognosis for property".

"The past year has seen a number of significant events that have had an impact on South African property across the board, not least of which have been the new National Credit Act, along with interest-rate hikes, skyrocketing industrial land values and of course the ongoing debate on foreign ownership and inclusionary housing," Rode says.

"Our annual conference has become a benchmark event to provide delegates with relevant, statistics-based research, which will enhance all their property dealings — including their investments."

The organisers of the event, Rode & Associates, were founded twenty years ago, and have since then been pioneering work on forecasting the full spectrum of the South African property market and improving valuation methodology.

The company updates and rents out approximately 5000 property time series, which offer property researchers a unique opportunity for analysis of sub-markets — from office, industrial and residential rentals, to capitalisation rates and house prices spanning more than two decades. Rode & Associates is today also one of the largest independent valuation firms in South Africa, and Erwin Rode is himself a fellow of the SA Institute of Valuers.

The conference, sponsored by FNB Commercial Property Finance, takes place at the Spier Estate near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape on Monday 17 September 2007, and at the FNB Conference and Learning Centre in Sandton, Gauteng, on Thursday, 20 September 2007.

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