Airbnb 'rentability' may be pushing up the sale prices of apartments
IolProperty - South Africa
The short-term letting platform, Airbnb, allows property owners to list their apartments and homes to attract travellers and charge daily accommodation rates.
In June, there were about 7 500 Airbnb hosts in South Africa, and it is fast becoming an industry on its own.
"We are finding about 50 percent of buyer enquiries in Sea Point specifically request properties that can be let as holiday homes," says Lyonelle Venter, an estate agent from Jawitz Properties who specialises in apartments priced up to R4 million. "Investors are seeing favourable returns with Airbnb, so the appeal is understandable.
"We're starting to notice some issues arising, however. For instance, bodies corporate of many established sectional title schemes are starting to regulate the use of units in their buildings," she says.
IolProperty
Part one: Another feeble year for SA’s housing market
Moneyweb - South Africa
However, finding value in SA’s residential property market is now, more than ever, location specific.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for homeowners to make money from their homes given the humdrum capital appreciation on residential properties that has signalled a slow recovery of SA’s housing market.
Globally house prices and demand fell at the height of the 2008 financial crisis but have started to recover since 2012, albeit at a glacial pace.
Yet SA’s housing market has been riding out the perennial slump as national house prices have barely kept up with inflation over the past five years. Measly and negative house price growth seems to be the new normal and the days of achieving double-digit growth are long gone.
Moneyweb
Law Society slams push to privatise state "jewel"
InDaily - Australia
The Law Society has warned of privacy risks, a potential increase in fraud, increased costs, and long-term financial pain for the taxpayer if the State Government goes ahead with its plans to privatise South Australia's lands titles office.
As foreshadowed in this year’s budget, the Government this month called for expressions of interest from the private sector to take over the “transactional” functions of the Land Services Group – the government agency responsible for land titles and land and property valuations, among other property services.
The group’s income stream is reportedly around $100 million a year. The State Government aims to keep that income while offering a buyer an annual service fee in return for giving the new operator the capacity to commercialise the group’s vast store of data.
InDaily
Dr Andrew Golding looks ahead at SA’s housing market in 2017
Pam Golding - South Africa
While political and economic uncertainty is likely to continue across the globe next year (2017), it is hoped that local economic growth will be modestly stronger, which will be more supportive for the South African housing market, says Dr Andrew Golding, CE of the Pam Golding Property group.
“Economists and commentators in general are more positive about growth next year, while business confidence has improved, which in turn enhances overall sentiment which is a key driver of the residential property market.
“Much depends on the performance of the rand, but on balance the general expectation is that inflation will fall quite noticeably by the second half of 2017, hopefully with the Reserve Bank looking to cut interest rates during this latter part of the year.
Pam Golding
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