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Is Airbnb driving out long-term tenants?
South Africa - HomeTimes
The Airbnb circus flew into South Africa a few days ago, dazzled city fathers and thousands of homeowners in Johannesburg and Cape Town with awe-inspiring figures reflecting serious growth in tourist home stays and in home hosting profits. The company’s Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s global head of public policy and public affairs, left South Africa clutching a cooperative agreement with Cape Town, Africa’s tourist jewel.

Is Airbnb giving back?
The signing of that agreement seemingly came on the back of an undertaking by Airbnb to broaden, along with local partners, a successful pilot programme to support training in hospitality and technology for residents from townships across the Western Cape. In fact, the alluring programme will be expanded to include women and young people from underserved communities in 15 more township communities across South Africa. Such an initiative has to be applauded.
HomeTimes

Decontextualized statistics could lead property owners astray
South Africa - Rawson
The modern real estate industry is a vastly different place to that of just a few years ago. Technology has given buyers and sellers unprecedented access to information, and real estate agents are often no longer the primary source of data relating to property investments and sales.

This increasing transparency into industry trends has raised questions over realtors’ roles in today’s market, and many sellers have debated whether an agent is really necessary at all. According to Schalk van der Merwe, franchisee at Rawson Properties Helderberg, the answer to that question remains a resounding “Yes”, but not necessarily for the same reasons as a decade ago.

“Our profession has changed,” says Van der Merwe. “It’s not just about connecting buyers and sellers and facilitating sales. The real value of a good, modern, real estate agent lies in their ability to interpret market information and apply – and communicate – those findings within a specific context.”
Rawson

Property Barometer - House Price Index
South Africa - FNB
FNB’s 2 measures of Real House Prices continue the gradual “correction”

In October 2017, the FNB House Price Index showed a further mild acceleration in year-on-year growth compared with revised September growth. However, at 4.3% the rate remains noticeably lower than both Consumer Price and Rental inflation, implying that FNB’s 2 measures of “real” house prices, i.e. the Price-Rent Ratio Index and the Real (CPIadjusted) FNB House Price Index continue their downward “corrections”.
FNB_House_Price_Index

Delft buyers duped in property scam
South Africa - IolProperty
A Weekend Argus investigation has uncovered an alleged property fraud syndicate operating in the Delft area where unsuspecting would-be buyers have been duped into purchasing houses which are not for sale, losing hundreds of thousands of rands in the process. The alleged syndicate involves people who pose as estate agents and property sellers as well as a registered attorney.

A Bellville resident, whose identity has been withheld to protect her, told how she had raised a loan in order to buy property she had seen advertised online on Gumtree in March.

The 25-year-old teacher said, according to the advert, the house was on the market for R130 000, an amount she could repay in a few months as opposed to taking a home loan over 20 or more years.
IolProperty

 

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