In the 2008 and 2009 market collapse South Africa lost some 60,000 of the 95,000 agents that formerly served the property sector.
“We are now down to approximately one-third of our original number,” said Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank (APKF), the Cape Peninsula estate agency.
She said the recent budget should, once again, have made the South African public aware of the size of the property sector’s contribution to the revenue collected by SARS.
“The Receiver will this year be able to raise no less than R10bn in transfer and other property-related taxes”.
“This means that property is one of the main contributors to State revenue and, although not in the same bracket as individual income tax (R220bn) or corporate tax (R150bn), is a significant source of State funds.”
Steward said in light, said Steward, it is disgraceful that Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA) and Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) are both way behind in the training and registration of estate agents.
“There is now a dire need for new agents to serve the recovering market - but this recovery will be slowed by the inability of the existing parastatal structures to qualify new agents.
“The irony of the situation is that if the new qualifications had been up and running by now, South Africa would be entering an era in which it had many of the best trained and most professional agents in the world.”
Also of concern, she said, is the fact that it looks as if, once the training systems are in place, it will cost approximately R15k to train a rookie agent, but although there are signs that some bursaries will be available, it is almost certain that there will not be nearly enough to provide for all the new agents coming into the real estate industry.
For more information contact Lanice Steward on 021 671 9120 or send an email.
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