‘On-Demand’ Expectation from SA consumers challenges the property industry
South Africa - Real Estate Investor
Estate agents and rental property managers that don’t adopt technology in their businesses will be replaced,” says Adriaan Grove from Entregral Technologies. Speaking at the PayProp PropTech event in Cape Town last week, Grove said that in 2018, the property industry will have to adapt to cater for the new ‘on demand’ environment. “Consumers are accustomed to services-on-demand. Services like Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, Takealot and many others are offering instant gratification to South African consumers. The expectation is that all services should adapt, irrespective of the industry,” says Grove.
Grove says that Airbnb has had a profound impact on the property industry in South Africa, and in most cases, estate agencies are using the ability to Airbnb a property as a selling point on marketing materials. “The time is right for the industry to be disrupted locally – it’s happening fast internationally.” He quotes online home selling platform OpenDoor – a platform that pioneered the new iBuyer model, as a good example of disruption in the United States. “OpenDoor is offering a platform that allows sellers to get an instant cash offer on their home, and choose their own closing date. It removes the uncertainty and stress around the price and selling time of your home.” Grove lists 5 ways in which the industry is drastically changing:
Real Estate Investor
Treasury hastens title deed handover to poor homes
South Africa - Polity
Treasury plans to speed up the transfer of ownership of homes worth R180-billion to about one million poor people from April, granting them access to assets that could be sold or used as collateral, it said on Tuesday.
Broadening access to affordable housing for black communities trapped in squalid shanty towns has been a government priority since the end of apartheid in 1994, but shoddily-built homes and corruption has hobbled delivery, leading to violent protests around the country.
Ahead of next year's national elections, land and property ownership in Africa’s most industrialised economy is a hot button topic, as the African National Congress-led government presses ahead with its plan to expropriate land without compensation, a policy that has unnerved investors.
"At a conservative rate we estimate that we could unlock R180-billion of dead assets for poor households," James Archer, director for human settlements at the Treasury, told Reuters.
Polity
Residential building statistics
South Africa - Absa
Residential building activity started 2018 on a positive note
Building activity in the South African market for new private sector-financed housing (see explanatory notes) showed a significant improvement in both the planning and construction phases in the first month of the year compared with a year ago, based on data released by Statistics South Africa.
The number of building plans approved for new housing was up by a substantial 37% year-on-year (y/y), or 1 176 plans, to 4 356 plans in January. Plans approved in the segment for houses smaller than 80m² increased by around 100% y/y to 1 450 over this period, with the segment for flats and townhouses posting growth of almost 23% y/y to 1 943 plans in January.
The number of new housing units reported as being completed increased by 22,9% y/y, or 451 units, to a total of 2 422 units in January 2018. The volume of flats and townhouses built showed strong growth of 89,9% y/y to 1 591 units in the first month of the year, whereas the segment for houses smaller than 80m² contracted by 58,2% y/y to only 224 units in January.
Building stats Jan 2018
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