Link: http://www.property24.co.za

But many people still dream of building a new home from scratch and they need to be sure that they are getting the best possible value for money.

“Clearly there are many factors to be taken into account when arriving at a realistic market price for any property, including location, design, building quality and craftsmanship,” says Realty 1 International Property Group CEO Hano Jacobs.

“However, all those factors being equal, a solid starting point for assessing the relative value of a new home is building costs, and in this respect some useful information about costs in Gauteng during the second quarter of this year has been compiled by quantity surveyors Hill Du Bois.”

Read more »

Link: http://www.property24.com

The concept of taking out credit has been given a hard time in recent years – following the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US and rising levels of indebtedness in South Africa.

However, according to Kay Geldenhuys, property finance processing manager at ooba, South Africa’s leading bond originator, if it is used in a constructive way, credit can prove to be a vital tool in building wealth creation for the future.

Here, Geldenhuys discusses the various ways consumers can use credit to their own advantage.

Property

Property is a prime example of using good credit for wealth creation as property owners use the banks' money to finance their purchase, paying off a small portion each month while the property appreciates in capital value.

“The obvious type of good credit is purchasing a property either as a main residence or as an investment property and financing the purchase through a home loan,” says Geldenhuys.

Read more »

Link: http://www.property24.com

Listed property has always been an excellent investment.

But the prospects for the nearly 20 listed property funds are currently less than positive.

Investors will therefore have to be very careful and more selective.

Coronation Fund Managers says listed property has offered investors a firm average return of 23,2% per year over the past 10 years. This makes listed property the asset class that has fared the best during this period – even better than local shares (17%).

But what about the next decade?

Coronation’s forecast is a return of only 9% to 10% per year – lower than the forecast for local and international shares alike and a tad higher than for unit trusts.

This does not mean that listed property is no longer a good investment. But investors will have to lower their return expectations.

Read more »

Link: http://www.property24.com

Worldwide, the sub-division of large residential stands is gaining popularity – and presents good opportunities for property investors.

So says Harcourts Africa CEO Martin Schultheiss, who points to new figures from the UK Department for Communities and Local Government that show 25% of new British homes are now being built on subdivided existing residential land, including many “back gardens”.

“And although no hard figures are available locally, the trend is also visible in South Africa and the reasons are plain: Land is becoming scarcer and it is often cheaper and easier to build in developed areas because of existing infrastructure.

Read more »

Link: http://www.property24.com

There are a number of different motivations for purchasing a sectional title unit as an investment.

Are you investing for capital growth or rental returns? Perhaps you are investing for both? Are you interested in buying an old apartment, fixing it up and selling for a profit? Are you buying a vacation unit as a lifestyle investment? Are you buying a retirement unit to secure your retirement plan?

One cannot offer advice for all these variables in one article, but we can look at a few aspects of the physical building to look out for regardless of your objectives. We can also look at a few ways of adding capital value to your unit with very little effort.

First things first: finding out information about a unit from the estate agent alone is not enough. Ensure that you speak to the chairman of the body corporate (BC) or the scheme’s managing agent to find out if the scheme has any of the following problems.

Spalling – Concrete reinforced structures use steel reinforcing bars to strengthen the structure. Spalling concrete is largely due to a natural deterioration process called carbonation, in which the reinforcing steel rods embedded in the concrete slab corrode, causing the concrete cover to crack and bulge. Spalling in advanced stages is very expensive to fix, and will require a substantial special levy.

Read more »