Words: Keith Osborne
Published: 13th March 2008
South Africa - Top 10 research resources
This week, as part of our continuing series of articles on the most useful online resources for some of the world’s emerging property markets, we look at
South Africa. It’s a country with historically strong links to the UK that still exist today. With English widely spoken, and in a time zone just two hours ahead of GMT, doing business there is quite straightforward.
The recent strengthening of
Sterling and the US dollar against the rand means home buyers are getting more property for their money now than they would have just a few months ago. Though house price growth has been
slowing for some time, it is still around 9% year-on-year. According to investment site Global Property Guide,
South Africa enjoyed some of the
best average price rises globally in 2007.
The
World Travel and Tourism Council expects tourism in South Africa to rise considerably over the next nine years.
Good rental yields in some areas and a pro-landlord legal system are also good news for potential investors.
We’ve scoured the internet to come up with a list of 10 useful resource websites for agents and developers keen to enter the South African market. Please feel free to share your own favourite sites by
entering a comment below:
- South African Department of Trade and Industry. This government site is a good starting point for the detail of doing business in South Africa. Aspects of trade and investment from exchange control to labour and environmental laws are covered. Though it doesn’t cover real estate investment specifically, a downloadable Investor’s Handbook gives a thorough overview for anyone considering commercial activity with or in the country.
- Doing Business. Aside from its other content on conducting commercial activity in South Africa (and elsewhere), this site has a splendidly concise guide to setting up your own business in the country, including timescales and costs.
- Absa Bank Financial Sector Forum. One of South Africa’s leading banks provides a number of regular, concise reports on the state of the country’s property market, all free to access. Subjects covered include mortgages, interest rates and property prices. You can also sign up free-of-charge to receive periodical news updates to your inbox.
- SA Property Blog. An informal but well-informed perspective on the South African property industry. The author is primarily a mortgage expert, but casts his eye over many aspects of the South African property market and updates his blog very regularly to comment on relevant news items. He’s a little outspoken, which makes him that much more enjoyable to read.
- SouthAfrica.info. The country’s official website hosts a huge amount of information about South Africa, its people, culture and commerce. Though there’s no specific real estate strand, it does carry business news and features on investment and the South African economy. There’s also plenty of general interest to help familiarise anyone new to the country.
- MyPressPortal. Free-to-access site featuring press releases in a number of sector-specific channels, including real estate and construction. Articles and opinion are featured as well as industry and consumer news and launches.
- The Property Magazine. Aimed at professionals and investors alike, this magazine is published monthly by Media Nova in three regional editions, each costing R940 (£60) for an annual overseas subscription. You can read an electronic version of the current issue for free online to see what you think of it. There’s a monthly email newsletter too (registration is free) if you want to receive regular updates on the South African property industry.
- The Economist. The esteemed business publication provides a number of property-related articles free of charge in addition to good, general political and economic background information. Its South Africa Country Briefing collects all the relevant national stories on one central page. Subscription to the whole website, allowing access to its premium content, currently starts at $19.95 (£10) for a month and $79.95 (£40) annually. Alternatively, subscribe to the weekly print edition for £83 per year and get your online access as part of the package.
- IAfrica.com. Portal offering information and services relating to life in South Africa. As well as business and lifestyle items, it offers a property strand with industry and consumer news. It accepts sales listings too, powered by portal PropertyGenie.co.za – currently they’re offering agency listings for free, though they’ll be introducing a monthly fee arrangement later in the year. There are flexible terms for developers advertising their properties direct.
- MyProperty.co.za. Once you’ve decided to sell South African property, which portals should you use to bring them to buyers? The property portal achieving the highest natural rankings for property-related phrases for South Africa on Google UK, according to our latest research, is MyProperty.co.za. Run by Entegral Technologies in South Africa, this site operates a monthly fee business model, currently charging from R190 (£12) per month for unlimited listings, and claims 180,000 visitors per month (January 2008). There’s a useful directory of local agents and extensive industry news posted daily on the site.
Find out the
best property portals for South Africa for you in our property portal directory.
If you're researching other destinations, please refer to our other articles:
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