|
 FROM
BERRY EVERITT
Maybe it’s the scent of summer, but the mood in the property market has definitely lifted in the past month and is already staring to generate astonishing forward momentum in several areas.
It’s almost seems like the more South Africans look at the financial and political turmoil elsewhere in the world, the more we gain perspective on our own problems and realise how much good we have to build on – like an economy that has held up really well compared with those of many more “developed” countries, a vigorous (if sometimes uncomfortable) democracy, abundant natural resources (including really smart and energetic people); and of course a great climate.
This, I think, is the real reason that the proportion of home sellers who are motivated by plans to emigrate has fallen from 20% at the end of 2008 right down to just 4%, according to the latest FNB statistics.
It also seems to be translating into a renewed sense of purpose, which is one of the most important factors we see driving the current real estate market improvements – as though South Africans of all ages and income groups, having had their downtime, have decided to “plug in” again and get going towards their goals.
And talking of getting going…we at Chas Everitt believe that if you ever grow complacent, you will quickly start going backwards, so we are constantly working on ways to improve our service and add value for our clients.
This is why we have just revamped our website www.chaseveritt.com to make it more user friendly, and why we recently concluded a new agreement to put our listings on the Property24 portal and expand our electronic marketing channel, which already encompasses other major portals such as Cyberprop, IOLProperty and Private Property.
Meanwhile, we continue to do all we can to promote home ownership in SA, because that’s the best way we know to create wealth - and sustain the current optimism. | 
