Workers in central Cape Town are putting the finishing touches on the 54-room Hemp Hotel, which is due to be completed in June.

“Hempcrete” blocks derived from the cannabis plant have been used to fill the building’s walls, supported by a concrete and cement structure.

Hemp bricks are becoming increasingly popular in the construction world thanks to their insulating, fire-resistant and climate-friendly properties.

Used notably in Europe for thermal renovation of existing buildings, the blocks are carbon negative – meaning their production sucks more planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere than it puts in.

“The plant absorbs the carbon, it gets put into a block and is then stored into a building for 50 years or longer,” explains Boshoff Muller, director of Afrimat Hemp, a subsidiary of South African construction group Afrimat, which produced the bricks for the hotel.

Source: The Business Times

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Investing in the commercial property sector in South Africa remains an excellent financial decision if you find the right opportunity.

This is according to Rainer Stenzhorn from In2assets, who acknowledged that the South African commercial property market has experienced many challenges in recent years.

These include low levels of investment and rental growth, which have been caused by economic and political uncertainty, as well as floods, unrest, looting, and COVID-19.

While this may paint a negative picture of the South African commercial property market, there are also many positive factors that should be considered.

For example, commercial property continues to offer a steady income stream thanks to rental income, and this property can appreciate over time, ensuring consistent capital growth.

This is particularly notable in South Africa as the country still has huge potential to grow its economy – which would cause commercial property values to rise significantly.

Stenzhorn noted that enormous opportunities exist for investment in sectors such as logistics and warehousing, as e-commerce continues to grow in popularity.

He added that moving forward, demand for commercial property is likely to remain strong in high-growth areas such as Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg, while lower-growth areas may see more modest gains.

Among the investment properties up for auction on the 25^th of April include:

• A unique investment property with long-term blue-chip tenants in the sought-after area of Bedfordview, Gauteng, which presents an excellent opportunity for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios.
• A large industrial workshop with its own warehouse in Brits, bordering Gauteng, with a GLA of 12600m2, which offers a fantastic end-user opportunity in an area with easy access to the workforce.

Numerous lots such as hotels, industrial parks, industrial warehouses, cold-room facilities, retail and accommodation blocks, and office suites will be submitted to the same auction.

The auction will be livestreamed and bidders can participate from anywhere (locally, nationally, or internationally) on the In2assets website.

In2assets also offers an alternate sales platform called the Property Dealroom, a unique digital property vault.

The Property Dealroom is an exclusive trading platform which allows transactions to be conducted either confidentially or publicly.

One of the currently listed properties in the Property Dealroom is a large-scale Mpumalanga chicken farm with its own hatchery.

The 300ha farm is well equipped with all facilities to produce about 300,000 chickens a week.

Source: Business Tech

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The report, compiled by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, shows that South Africa was home to 37 800 US dollar millionaires at the end of 2022.

At the current exchange rate, that means South Africa is home to 37 800 people with a fortune in excess of R18 million – and some change.

South Africa Has ‘lost’ 11 000 Millionaires

Ten years ago, New World Wealth recorded 48 800 millionaires living in South Africa, representing a drop of 11 000

The report also reveals that the ‘Big 5’ wealth markets in Africa – South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco – together account for 56% of Africa’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and over 90% of the continent’s billionaires.

However, their continued dominance is far from assured and they could soon be challenged by the likes of Mauritius and Rwanda which are fast gaining ground.

Namibia’s new residence by investment offering positions it as a future potential rival as well.

In terms of millionaires, South Africa is followed by Egypt (16 100 millionaires), Nigeria (9 800), Kenya (7 700) and Morocco (5 800).

Mzansi also leads in the count of centi-millionaires – individuals with a net worth greater than $100 million – with 98 people falling into this category.

At the current exchange rate, that means South Africa is home to 98 people with a fortune in excess of R18 billion – and some change.

As reported by The South African website, Mzansi also has five dollar billionaires.

This is second to Egypt which has eight billionaires.

Wealthiest Cities and Residential Areas

Four of Africa’s top 10 wealthiest cities are in South Africa.

Johannesburg has the most millionaires in Africa with 14 600, Cairo (Egypt) is second with 7 400 resident HNWIs, just ahead of Cape Town in third place with 7 200.

Lagos (Nigeria) is in fourth position with 5 400 millionaires and Nairobi (Kenya) is fifth with 4 700.

The other two South African cities in the Top 10 are Durban (sixth) with 3 600 and Pretoria in eighth with 2 400.

South Africa is home to some of the world’s most upmarket residential areas including Clifton in Cape Town, Beachy Head Drive in Plettenberg Bay, and Sandhurst in Johannesburg.

According to New World Wealth’s latest figures, there are approximately 3 700 homes in South Africa that are valued at over $1 million (R18 million).

By this measure, South Africa ranks as one of the 20 largest prime residential markets in the world, well ahead of the other countries in Africa and in line with big emerging markets such as India and Brazil.

Source: The South African

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This is according to FNB’s senior economist for commercial property, John Loos.

Speaking to RSG Geldsake this week, Loos said that South Africa’s property sector has experienced low house-price growth or commercial valuations that did not keep up with inflation and, in real terms, this resulted in a long slowdown.

He said only once the correction ends would it be a good time to buy property.

“In terms of investment in the commercial property sector in South Africa over the past five years, we have been on the weaker side when compared to elsewhere,” said Loos.

“When it comes to residential, for example, FNB home-price growth never went much above 4%, but the US sometimes swung into double digits during the period of lockdowns.”

He said that South Africa had faced long-term economic stagnation, and since 2012, there has been a broad slowdown. And despite significant anomalies such as the pandemic, the country is still experiencing stagnation.

Loos said that significant economic policy changes are required for the property sector to be turned around in the years to come.

“Policy will change; the private sector will be allowed to have a larger participation in many sectors, such as electricity, and then we could perhaps see the best part of the decade ahead perform significantly better economically, and property can turn around,” Loos added.

Recent data from property research firm Lightstone supports Loos’ assessment.

Lighstone said that residential property would continue to be shaped by local and international challenges; however, a stagnating domestic economy will be the toughest challenge.

The group said that the economy’s stagnation would see prices grow at a rate lower than inflation. Out of all three predictive forecasts, from baseline to positive, further interest rate hikes are expected – ranging from 50 basis points to 200 and GDP growth no higher than 1.1% in the most conducive scenarios.

Further rate hikes would hit home, making it harder to pay off monthly bond repayments.

When looking into the property market during a high inflationary period, Grant Smee from Only Realty Property Group said that it is best to look to buy at 70% – 80% of your affordability – thus ensuring a buffer for potential increases in rates, costs of ownership, taxes and levies.

source: businesstech

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