You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW Welcome to The Property Pod, South Africa’s premier property investor podcast. On this weekly show we gain insider insights from leading CEOs, analysts, developers and entrepreneurs in the country’s expansive property industry.
“Well, across the board there’s been a lot of uncertainty over the last year. I think people were waiting for the outcome of the elections and there just weren’t enough good signs for some sort of property stability, as you would call it. “That’s what we try to do through our marketing platform. The exposure that it creates and gets, and the interest that it creates competition. The sellers get to the entire market.
“And the last thing and the most important – and I think what everyone wants – is it’s a line drawn in the sand, and it’s much quicker than a normal private treaty sale. “The preferred bid has now been identified and the process is beginning with a more in-depth due diligence which was needed for this process.” ADVERTISEMENT: CONTINUE READING BELOW “At the end of the day , I don’t really think it’s my place to talk about the amount that was achieved while it is in the due diligence process and subject to all those other boxes that need to be ticked. I think I’d like to just leave it at that. But at the end of the day, we are very happy with the outcome.
“I think overall the liquidators were very satisfied with the outcome. Obviously, that means talking to the price, and not they obviously didn’t achieve what they would like to have achieved. But given the market and given the uncertainties with the development and what needs to go about to make it work, I think both buyers and the sellers are quite satisfied with the outcome.
“The beauty of this is that everyone had an opportunity to participate, including Bart, and we really had almost every significant developer and fund – whether pension fund or property fund – make enquiries, do some investigation and homework, and run their feasibilities and participate to a certain extent in the process.
“Cultivated farms like this are like hens’ teeth, and I think there’s going to be a lot of interest and we could have a very, very successful auction.” I have to ask – because we reported on that sale, or the planned auction on that berry farm in the KZN Midlands – you say it’s an operating farm. You didn’t share too much on why it is being put up for sale. So it’s not a case of a distressed sale, as it were?