PROPERTY SECTOR BOOM IN 2018

MBABANE – You never go wrong when investing in property. Judging from the preliminary figures sourced from ‘municipalities and town boards’, which showed that building plans approved have been on an upward trend for the past three quarters of 2018, the above phrase could be believed to be true.

The Central Bank of Eswatini, whose Governor is Majozi Sithole, has reported that total building plans approved accelerated to 204 units in the quarter ended September 2018 from 188 units during the quarter ended June 2018.

Approved

“Notable increases were observed in residential building plans approved, which grew to 141 units from 136 units between the two quarters, mainly driven by an acceleration in building plans approved for new residential dwelling units,” CBE explained in the recent economic development report for November and December 2018.

The country’s municipal councils and town boards comprise of Mbabane, Manzini, Pigg’s Peak, Nhlangano, Ezulwini, Malkerns, Mankayane, Ngwenya, Siteki and Mankayane.

Arguably, Ezulwini attracted the largest volume of the building applications for commercial purposes with a high monetary value. An independent analysis by the Business Desk pointed out that, apart from the recorded approved applications during the period under review, there were already nearly 10 developments valued at nearly E8 billion.   

It was also reported during the 2017/18 AGM that there had been a huge demand for building applications approval.

Constructed

The priciest of the structures is the International Convention Centre and Five Star Hotel being constructed by the Kukhanya, Inyatsi and Stefanutti Stocks Joint Venture valued at about E2 billion. The total number of jobs created could not be immediately ascertained but a construction expert projected that between 500 and 1 000 people had been hired when taking into consideration the magnitude of the project being undertaken.  

On the opposite direction of the state-of-the-art hotel and convention centre, is the almost complete Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) headquarters which was projected to cost E400 million. The principal contractor is Stefanutti Stocks and the project managers are APM Consulting while MA Consulting Engineers takes care of the engineering aspect. 

Within the same periphery, a multimillion office park and shopping complex has also been constructed by MA Properties.
The property, which sits on 8 000 square metres plot opposite Corner Plaza, comprises of 15 double-storey office spaces and a retail centre to be operated by OK Foods as the anchor tenant.

Influence

The Exams Council is also constructing its head office in Ezulwini.
A property expert who preferred anonymity explained that the factors that influenced the performance of the property market are as numerous as there were fluctuations in the exchange rate. Still, there are some definite trends that can be highlighted and that offer at least an indication of what the next year has in store for the industry.

What happens in the property market is often a reflection of what’s happening in the country at large – politically, economically and socially. Drawing on industry insights and expertise, the expert said these were the big influences that we can expect to have an impact on the property market in 2019 in the political, economic, social and technological arena:
“An election year, which 2018 was, is always an interesting one for the property market. This is simply because elections signal uncertainty, which generally sees reluctance by buyers to commit,” he explained.
On the economic front, CBE explained that economic activity, as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was projected to decline by 0.4 per cent in 2018 in the wake of weakening fiscal and external positions.
Demand
The demand factors notwithstanding, agriculture, agro-processing electricity and water supply subsectors are expected to contribute positively to growth.
“The primary sector was projected to grow by 1.3 per cent in 2018 from a contraction of 4.2 per cent in 2017 and is expected to contribute 1.1 per cent to the overall growth, as the sector fully recovers from the effects of the 2015/16 drought situation,” said CBE.

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