Vantage properties, the new entrant into the local property market, is planning to announce its presence into the market with a strong zeal Wednesday by organizing a seminar that will bring middle and upper classes face to face with developers and financial institutions at Phakalane Golf Estates.
The property market information company headed by a female, Sethebe Somolekae told Sunday Standard that their company is all encompassing and it is aiming at preparing a data base on commercial, industrial and residential property across the country.
“We will be covering the whole country and providing information on rentals, housing price market and including the virgin plots which are on sale,” she said.
“The whole idea is to try to encourage Batswana to invest in property and we have figured out we can effectively do that by informing people through seminars, workshops, newspaper adverts and newsletters,” she added.
The company is planning to work hand in hand with commercial banks, building societies and property developers in an attempt to aid multitudes of Batswana to climb up the property ladder.
The move is aimed at encouraging Batswana to take advantage of the upcoming economic development in the countryÔÇöespecially those around the booming mining sector.
“Batswana lack information. So the idea is to encourage them to invest in areas such as Mmamabula and areas around Francistown where there is an impending mining boom. We feel that they should take advantage of the developments which are coming into this country,” Somolekae said.
So far, the coming in of the Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) has sent the property market in and around Gaborone through the roofÔÇöand instantly created a great number of millionaires within a short time. Houses which were bought for between P 300, 000 and P 400, 000 some three years ago are currently valued at around P 700,000 while low cost houses and the medium cost houses are also on the upswing. At the higher end and in less attractive places, such as Tsholofelo houses which were valued less than a million three years ago are now going for over P 1.6 million.
The price upswing is expected to take a firmer ground next year as houses closer to the CBD are expected to experience a price spike that will see serviced areas going beyond P 1 million.
“This is the right time to buy if you are looking for anything less than a million because if you delay you will not be able to afford it next year,” a senior consultant in one of the prestigious estate agencies told the Sunday Standard.
The coming in of Vantage Property will also try to demystify the market which has for a long time been the field of the rich and foreigners. However, the biggest problem will be shortage of land.
