Integration of the Housing Market a Necessity
Housing Minister Lidiwe Sisulu said that a single integrated housing market was “absolutely necessary” to normalise the South African housing market and link the second economy to the first economy.
Sisulu said that the value of property in the second economy, mainly in black townships, had become excluded from the mainstream economy ant this had to change. She also said that South Africa found itself with two different and unrelated property markets and it was in the country’s best interest to link them.
She argued that there was value, or “dead equity”, in the second economy and South Africa ignored this “at its peril”. This equity, which excluded the so-called tribal areas, had in 2004 been estimated to be valued at R68,3-billion. However, “the most recent estimates were around R600-billion, something which must not be trifled with”.
Sisulu feels that it makes sense to normalise the housing market, as there is a young and growing population, with half the population under the age of 25, which presented the country with serious challenges. She also said that South Africa needed the creation of integrated communities in integrated human settlements to do away with the abnormalities of different communities living apart.
This article hasn't been commented yet.