Sunday, December 8African Digital Business Magazine

Real Estate

Africa Real Estate

Real Estate

Creating smart homes with the power of security: Introducing the C6N and C1C-B

Since 2013, EZVIZ has dedicated itself to creating smarter and safer homes, making it convenient for users to access and get the best use out of high-tech intelligent devices. These unique security cameras provide families with protection and peace of mind when they travel away from home. They’re also super convenient when it comes to accessing home security and checking on pets who are at home without company. The C6N and C1C-B cameras are just two of the many EZVIZ products that drive safety and security in smart homes. The C6N uses a smart IR function that features advanced infrared lighting to capture more details in low light. With the motion pan-tilted rotational feature, it is able to cover 360 degrees, making it easier for the user to have a full view of their monitored space. Whe...
Real Estate

Top 10 Real Estate Terms to Become Aware Of

The real estate world is filled with an abundance of terminologies and other jargon that can easily complicate the already convoluted process of buying and selling property. Regardless if you live in the United States, Canada, or Singapore, you need to brush up on your real estate vocabulary and become familiarized with some of the most common terms in the industry. We've compiled a list to create a resource you can use to become more aware of some real estate terms. 1) Warranty Deed When it comes to answering the question, "What is a warranty deed," warranty deeds are documents that are signed between the seller and buyer. The deed helps to protect the buyer as it pledges that the seller has a clear title for the property and that there aren't any liens or mortgages against said property....
Real Estate, South Africa News

Make your money work harder and smarter by using your home loan to save

By: Andrea Tucker, Director at MortgageMe We get it. The thought of paying off a house every month for the next 20 to 30 years isn’t exactly thrilling. But if managed carefully, you can use your bond to your advantage and build a nest egg of savings for life’s little and not-so-little emergencies. The why It makes good financial sense to expect and prepare for financial emergencies and to get into the habit of saving every month. No amount is too small. If you’re able to able to save or invest some of your salary every month, as well as increase the payment on your home loan, you’re covering yourself for emergencies as well as saving for something specific through your investments. The How A good place to start is by increasing your home loan repayments above the minimum requirement. Or, i...
Interview, Real Estate, South Africa News

Outlook for Cape Town property landscape – Where to invest

“As we end 2019, and reflect on some of the highlights, it’s heartening to note that banks were lending up to 105% and aggressively competing for business – to this end the sentiment was that this was a bullish move by the banks and likely to have been based on a sense that the market had bottomed out and that there is confidence in a market comeback in the future,” says Mike Greeff, CEO of Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate. “The repo rate was decreased and remained there, which we in the industry welcomed,” he adds. Greeff says that sentiment improved post election, and adds that Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate experienced a significant uptick in buyer activity. “Currently there is a noticeable increase in buyer interest and this has been the case following the Rugby...
How Industry 4.0 tools can aid property development
Real Estate, South Africa News

How Industry 4.0 tools can aid property development

The property sector has a great knack for changing with the times. When the internet boomed almost twenty years ago, property development companies quickly integrated it into their services.  We have evolved and are thriving in this digital space. Auctioneering, in particular, has seen vast changes online, from merely posting properties up for auction to platforms such as our new Broll Auctions Online Platform that we launched earlier this year, whereby bids can take place in real-time. Today, we are facing different beasts, that of artificial intelligence, big data automation, virtual reality and the Internet of Things. And we would be wise to integrate these emerging technologies sooner rather than later. Just how these technologies will change property auctioneering is uncertain. But it...
Mixed-use is the key to funding hotel development in Africa
Africa Travel, Real Estate

Mixed-use is the key to funding hotel development in Africa

A new report from JLL, the world’s largest professional services firm specialising in real estate, has revealed that people seeking to finance a new hotel project in Africa will be much more successful if their hotel is part of a mixed-use development. JLL’s research into global property transactions reveals that in the first half of 2019, there was a 42% increase in the value of mixed-use property transactions, whereas there was a decline in other sectors, with Office down 4%, Industrial down 6%, Retail down 20%, Hotel down 18% and alternatives down 40%. Xander Nijnens, Executive Vice-President, JLL Sub-Saharan Africa, explains that the trend is driven by lenders’ approach to risk. He said: “Diversifying risk by including alternative types of property, commercial, retail, hotel and bran...
Smart housing prototype shows promise in rapidly urbanizing Africa
Real Estate

Smart housing prototype shows promise in rapidly urbanizing Africa

Africa is urbanizing fast, as its population grows and many flocks to cities in search of jobs, education and healthcare. Studies show that hundreds of millions more Africans will live in cities over the next three decades. Many of these new urban Africans, however, are likely to end up in informal settlements. Already an estimated 200 million Africans live in informal settlements—often without access to energy and sanitation. The growing class of urban poor need access to decent housing. But the challenge is that the global housing sector already emits almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses up to 40 per cent of the planet’s total resources. New approaches are clearly needed. As the housing sector grows—and it must grow if we want an equitable world—we need to reduce ...
Kenya News, Main, Real Estate

OpEd: Affordable housing requires a new shape for the mortgage industry

By Johnstone Oltetia, Interim CEO Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) There are two essential parts to achieving affordable housing: building decent, low-cost homes, and developing a housing finance market that enables low-income earners to buy those homes. For, without finance, almost no home price is low enough to be affordable on an average salary. For this reason, the mortgage market has been growing. Housing loans have risen more than ten-fold since 2006, from 1,278 loans valued at Sh19m 12 years ago to 24,458 loans valued at Sh203.3bn by 2015, according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). But the market still remains tiny when compared with other nations. In Tanzania and Uganda, the mortgage loan value is under 2.5 per cent GDP while in Kenya stands at 3.15 per cent of GDP by 201...
Improved housing doubles in Sub-Saharan Africa
African News, Botswana News, Gabon News, Main, Real Estate, Tanzania News, Zimbabwe News

Improved housing doubles in Sub-Saharan Africa

A new study led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and Malaria Atlas Project, University of Oxford has revealed that improved housing had doubled on the African continent between 2000 and 2015. The study published in the “Nature International Journal of Science” is the first accurate estimate of urban and rural housing quality in sub-Saharan Africa and was done using state-of-the-art mapping. While highlighting the positive transformation in the region, the prevalence of improved housing doubling from 11% in 2000 to 23% in 2015, the study also estimates that 53 million urban Africans (in the countries analyzed) still lived in slum conditions in 2015. Lead author Dr. Lucy Tusting, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who co...