Budget 2008

Rodney Hayter did a round up and asked the following people for their comments on Trevor Manuel's budget:

Niël Cronje, CEO of Engel & Völkers South Africa, said the boost given small business in yesterday's budget was good as it supported Eskom.

"There will be no impact on the residential market as a result of the 2008 budget", says Herschel Jawitz, CE of Jawitz Properties.

"Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's budget was disappointing from a property perspective", says Pieter Ferreira, director of Jigsaw.

Yesterday's Budget was "appropriate in terms of the current economic conditions", according to Berry Everitt, MD of the Chas Everitt International property group.

According to Jo Pelser, the proposed huge increase in spending on infrastructure such as power stations, railways, roads and 2010 facilities is heartening for a construction industry.

Lew Geffen, chairman of Sotheby's International Realty in SA, says the budget did not contain much to encourage the real estate industry.

Martin Schultheiss thinks that yesterday's budget by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel failed to address the need for a more broad-based overhaul of home buying costs.

Gerhard Kotzé says that the budget was, disappointingly, what the property sector expected, with little to incentivise the market.

Trevor Manuel's failure to address issues specific to the property industry, including rising building costs and shortages of materials and skills, is of concern to RealNet CEO Tjaart van der Walt.

The Institute of Estate Agents of SA says that while today's Budget makes billions available for housing and infrastructure, there is a serious question mark over government's ability to convert such funds into actual product.

RodneyHayter.com