Foreign interest in property rising
It seems that there's renewed appetite for SA residential property from overseas buyers following a dip earlier this year after Government announced that it may introduce restrictions on foreign property ownership.
Real estate agents reported at the time that talk of Government placing some form of limitation on land ownership had put somewhat of a damper on foreign buying. However, latest figures from First National Bank (FNB) show that 6% of total SA housing sales went to foreign buyers in second quarter 2006. That is considerably more than what most industry commentators believe participation by foreign buyers to be. The general estimate is that foreign buyers represent only around 1% of the SA property market.
Real estate agents confirm that interest from offshore buyers is steadily rising. Earlier this month more than R10m worth of SA residential properties were sold by the Chas Everitt International team during the Homes Overseas exhibition at Earls Court in London. The group has also seen a noticeable increase in Internet enquiries from foreign buyers over the past three months.
Group MD Berry Everitt says in contrast to previous years, most visitors at this year's
Earls Court exhibition were serious buyers and not just people looking for tourism or lifestyle information. Everitt says this has probably been supported by the current rand to pound exchange rate of almost 14 to 1.
Di Reid of Chas Everitt's City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard office says she has
been surprised by the increase lately in the number of walk-in international buyers visiting the group's new office in Camps Bay.
Says Reid: ``I believe our exposure of local property at the recent international
exhibition in London, coupled to the 2010 World Cup hype, have created new
interest in Cape Town property in particular.'
Meanwhile, SA sales manager for the Pam Golding Signature Collection Tara Whiting says SA property was a hot topic at the recently held Cannes Film Festival in France.
Whiting says after Tsotsi's Oscar win as best foreign film wealthy offshore investors are increasingly paying attention to SA. She says serious investors, particularly those from Dubai and Russia, expressed great interest in a number of Pam Golding Signature Collection properties in SA.
The fact that an overseas consortium has bought the V&A Waterfront for R7,04 bn – the biggest single transaction in SA to date – should further boost offshore interest in SA property.
Transnet announced yesterday that the UK-based L&R Group, who has partnered with prominent Dubai-based developer Istithmar and local BEE investors, was selected from nine short-listed bidders to acquire the prime Cape Town property. - Joan Muller
News source: www.news24.co.za
Posted by: www.SouthAfrica-CarHire.com
R7b. Nice
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