Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2016 | Page 17

Conclusion
• Overseas is not necessarily a scary place for
property investments.
• Obtain assistance from parties that have local
knowledge in the region you are interested in.
• Do your homework when buying. Does the
property suite your ultimate objective.
What are your trying to achieve?

The Return of the Investor

However, not all investors are heading for the hills,
as it has become apparent that many who once
abandoned the country are slowly making there way
back. More than 400,000 white expat South Africans
have returned to the land of their birth since the apex
of the financial crisis in 2009, according to research
by Free Market Foundation economist Loane Sharp.
This is based on extensive analysis of job candidates
on the database of the country’s largest recruitment
firm, Adcorp.
Sharp says SA’s white population of working age
(15 to 64 years) peaked at 5.9 million in 1973, but
declined steadily to 3.9 million in 2009. Since then,
the white population has risen to 4.3 million, a net
gain of 400 000 over six years. That’s a substantial
brain gain for the country, since most of these
returnees bring vast international experience in
finance, engineering, medicine and other professions.
Some employment agencies are specifically
targeting expatriate South Africans to fill highly
skilled positions in sectors such as engineering,
mining and construction, and that is accounting for
some of the migration back to SA.
“South Africans working abroad got a rude
awakening after the financial crisis in 2008 when they
realised their overseas jobs were not as secure as they
had once thought,” says Sharp. “Many of them realised
there is no such thing as permanent, as in guaranteed,
employment, and this is when they started to look
for opportunities back in SA. This has been a huge
net gain for the country, since we are acquiring skills
that might otherwise have been lost forever to SA. In
addition to this, they bring experience of working in
highly developed economies.”
The Institute of Race Relations estimated that
841 000 white South Africans had left the country
between 1995 and 2005, and by some estimates two
million South Africans live abroad. Based on more
recent figures, SA may be experiencing the biggest
in-gathering of its Diaspora since the end of apartheid
25 years ago.
www.reimag.co.za

“To get an accurate
idea of what the Rand is
doing you must track it
against a basket of hard
currencies. The Rand’s
strengthening against the
Pound right now indicates
that investors, who don’t
like uncertainty, may be
pulling out of UK-based
investments. The same
may happen later this year
in the US. We as South
Africans tend to be very
negative and inwardly
focused, but the grass isn’t
necessarily greener on
the other side.” – Andrew
Rissik, Managing Director
of Sable Forex
RESOURCES
IP Global, eprop, Stanlib, Sable Forex
MARCH 2016 SA Real Estate Investor

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