Despite tough market conditions, investment properties – particularly well-located commercial and industrial Properties in and around Durban – are still in huge demand, says Hein Hattingh, MD of In2assets, leading property specialists with head office in Durban for the past seven years.
Hattingh says Durban industrial property is still out-performing all other regions in the country. “When In2Assets auctions a Jacobs property, for example, there is immediate strong interest and fierce bidding. In fact, the main attraction at our most recent monthly multiple auction - a property in Hutchinson Road in Jacobs - was sold for just over R25 million with four of the six properties submitted to this auction successfully disposed of. In the current economic climate, a success rate of almost 70% reflects strong investor appetite for the right property as well as professional marketing,” comments Hattingh.
He says In2Asssets has this year achieved “great results” in retail property and residential apartment blocks. The company sold the landmark Durban Sands building near South Beach for R30m, a hospitality and student accommodation complex at 105 Dr Pixley Kaseme Street for R31m, and a retail block at 432 Dr Pixley Kaseme Street for R 16.3m. For office blocks, the company’s top sale was an office block at 2 Torsvale Crescent in Gateway which fetched R33m.
Looking ahead, Hattingh says In2assets will at the start of 2020 launch a big shift and expansion to digital marketing and auction platforms which will dramatically change the way it has been trading. “In2Assets will, for example, launch a new commercial, industrial and agricultural property portal that will allow property-owners to market their own property. Our highly successful monthly auctions at Durban Country Club will continue but these will now also include properties from across the country thanks to new technology that will allow even global bidding via a mobile app, acquired from a Google Launchpad company as well as an online auction platform. This new technology will be coupled with live streaming of the auctions to the immediate areas where the various properties are based. Durban will, however, remain the main hub of all our activities,” he adds.
For more information about future In2Assets auctions, visit www.in2assets.com or phone 0861 444769.
by JAN DE BEER
