Web Bytes

Web Bytes 277

Cape City Council set to streamline development planning process
RealEstateWeb - South Africa
Separate zoning schemes to be replaced with one covering entire city.

The decision by the Planning and Building Management Department of the Cape Town City Council to replace the city's 27 'archaic' separate zoning schemes with a single zoning scheme covering the entire city could just be the good news that Cape property developers have waited two decades to hear, says Paul Henry, MD of Rawson Developers.

The scheme, which will shortly undergo its final round of public participation, is based, said Henry, on the premise that a unified city needs a unified zoning system, one that does not reflect past discrimination and is capable of responding to today's challenges.
RealEstateWeb

State plans strict new curbs on land rights
Business Day - South Africa
Rural Development and Land Affairs Minister Gugile Nkwinti yesterday failed to put out the fires raging over suggestions that productive farmland could be nationalised, instead raising new fears with a proposal that appears to curb property rights.

Recently, the department's director-general, Tozi Gwanya, caused a stir when he tabled in Parliament a strategic plan that proposed declaring all productive land a national asset, implying nationalisation. Critics, including farmers' group AgriSA, argued the proposals were a smokescreen to hide the department's bungled implementation of land reforms.

AgriSA and opposition parties have warned of a devastating effect on agricultural investment.
Business Day

FNB Cape Metro Property Market - 4th Quarter 2009
FNB - South Africa
Conclusion
Despite a quarter to quarter decline in the demand activity rating for the Cape Metro, as provided by our FNB Property Barometer survey respondents, the year-on-year growth rate in demand still suggests that the strengthening demand trend is intact. However, all is not yet entirely healthy, with agents simultaneously pointing to widespread financial stress selling of property.

FNB Valuers also point to an oversupply of property in the metro as a whole, and it would appear that this oversupply dominates more in areas away from Table Mountain. This is believed to be due to greater vacant land scarcity near to the mountain, which constrained the supply of new stock during the property and building boom last decade. As a result, the Cape Town-Fishoek-Simonstown sub-region seems to have shown the best property performance through the slump, avoiding average house price deflation.
Cape Metro Property Market

Leave a comment:

Security Picture (click to change)
Word shown in picture:
advert
menu close

Search Articles