Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa November 2016 | Page 18

PROPERTY NEWS The Bad The Good Buyers can get bigger gains from smaller homes S maller homes are increasingly popular among SA buyers - and not just because that’s all that’s available or all they can afford. Another major consideration is that such properties are increasingly proving to be good investments. That’s the message, says Berry Everitt of Chas Everitt, to emerge from the latest FNB statistics detailing the rate of price appreciation among properties of different sizes small homes of between 20 and 80m medium homes of 80 to 230m2 and large homes of 230 to 800m These figures show that in the second quarter of the year small home prices were increasing at a rate of 12.5 percent a year – up from 12.4 percent a year in the first quarter. Medium home prices were rising at a rate of 6.6 percent compared to 7.5 percent in the first quarter, and large home prices were growing by 4,6 percent a year compared to 1.4 percent in the first quarter. Similarly, he says, the latest Absa Housing review shows that among homes costing less than R4.4m, small homes showed a 9.9 percent yearonyear increase in the second quarter, medium homes a 6.1 percent increase and large homes a 5.6 percent increase. Brexit uncertainty starts to affect Listed property funds T he U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union created uncertainty in several sectors of the economy, including the property investment market. New buyer enquiries have declined significantly across the country with the south of UK being the hardest hit. The value of shopping centre owner New Frontier Properties’ assets has also been under pressure, with the company cautious about making new acquisitions in Britain, so soon after the referendum in favour of the UK leaving the EU. New Frontier, which on Monday reported results for the year to August, said it would proceed with caution until the uncertainty in the UK economy had eased and there was more clarity on the state of the property investment market. The group’s total comprehensive income for the period, according to International Financial Reporting Standards, was a loss of £6.37m, which incorporated the writing off of the acquisition fees associated with the acquisition of The Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool, the fall in valuation of its three retail investment properties and the mark to market value of the financial derivatives taken out to fix the company’s interest cost. Thely Ug Durban admits billing system is a mess A fter months of denying there are problems with the city’s new billing system, the city has admitted ratepayers are taking strain. The first cracks in the council’s blanket denial of problems with electricity and water accounts, including massively-hiked bills, surfaced on the city’s Facebook site on Wednesday this week. After saying it understood “how frustrating the billing system has been on our residents,” the city said it would have a revenue official available online the next day to answer questions. On Thursday a city offical, whose name was given as Khadija Sheik, posted the co