Absa reports house price growth slowed to a nominal 6,8% year-on-year in the middle segment of the market in April 2008, down from a revised 7,8% in March.
Job expert advises holistic approach to keeping staff
(Industry) DURBAN (May 16) - The first five months of the year has shown some unique trends in recruitment practices within the property industry, according Kyle Watkins; CEO of Durban based PropertyJobs.
Propertyjobs owns South Africa’s only property focussed online recruitment portal www.propertyjobs.co.za.
According to Watkins, the property industry has been relatively cautious with the creation of new employment vacancies, which he attributes to the general economic climate in the country at large. “In comparison to global employment trends over the last five ears this is unique as companies generally create the bulk of their growth orientated vacancies in the first half of any given year.
“There are exceptions to the rule as some companies are taking a much longer term view with new staff recruitment strategies still active.
Watkins says some companies have not bothered to fill vacancies created by resignations, instead redistributing workloads among remaining staff thus saving on salary overhead. “But this is a risky strategy and can cause unhappiness with the remaining staff especially if the workloads are unrealistically large and can led to further resignations.”
Watkins says the PropertyJobs website has been extremely busy in the first five months of this year confirming that jobseeker demand for alternate employment opportunities is still very high.
Sectors of the property industry that tend to be successful recruiting via the portal include property management, property finance and composite property service groups which offer several industry related services.
The demand for a stable, salary based position continues and it is these types of positions that gather the most applicants when advertised. The residential real estate sector still seems to be struggling to retain sales agents for well documented reasons, and those that move tend to do so by word of mouth rather than by formal recruitment mechanisms.
Watkins also notes that there is still a continued demand from their regional clients for full service recruitment, as in the modern workplace companies have less time resources available to advertise vacancies and screen responses themselves.
Another trend due to the lack of skills within the property industry, jobseekers, according to Watkins, seem to hold more negotiating power when it comes to choosing which position to accept and what salary to request.
Historically the employer held all the cards but Watkins warns employers at being complacent or arrogant in the offer and acceptance phase of the process, as good candidates often have other options available to them and companies could lose out on a star performer by vacillating or offering a non-competitive package.
Salary bands are also under upward pressure as employees struggle to deal with the rising costs of food, fuel and the general inflationary environment. Companies are being forced to offer ad hoc salary increases to staff members they wish to retain, or face the risk of them going out into the job market in search of a better deal.
Watkins however, feels there is still no substitute for creating a holistic approach to staff retention and not focussing on salary alone. This includes such non tangible perks such as flexi time, team building events and generally creating a happy working environment for employees. PropertyJobs have noted that employees will tend to stay with an employer for longer if they are motivated to go to work every day, and are not just working for the monthly salary alone.
Watkins expects this cautious approach to recruitment will probably continue for the remainder of 2008, but as market sentiment and economic indicators swing back into a more positive cycle in 2009 as is widely expected, so the demand for jobseekers will gather momentum yet again
(Cape property) CAPE TOWN (May 15) – Patience is the buzzword currently being heavily punted to Tableview’s sellers by local estate agents backed up by their commitment to enter into a strong working relationship with their estate agent.
(Listed companies) JOHANNESBURG (May 16) - South African listed property’s income returns are still performing positively, despite the inescapable short-term volatility being experienced on global markets, according to a lead article in the May edition of Property Loan Stoc
(Limpopo) BURGERSFORT, Limpopo (May 16) - The towns of Burgersfort and Ohrigstad in Limpopo appear to have by-passed the property slowdown facing the rest of South Africa, according to a Realty 1 International press release.
(Foreign) JOHANNESBURG (May 15) - The Chas Everitt International property group is making its first foray into Africa this month with the opening of an office in the Zambian capital of Lusaka.
(Residential) PIETERMARITZBURG (May 15)- Homenet reports that white homebuyers in the city are now moving into historically black and Indian areas in a notable reversal of post 1994 trends when newly enfranchised South Africans started moving into middle class and upma
(Foreign) LONDON (May 15) - The balance of Chartered Surveyors reporting United Kingdom house price falls increased even further but tight supply is limiting the extent of the decline, says RICS’ recently published UK housing market survey.
Letter to The Editor - Mike Spencer on banks tighten lending
(Residential) BANKS TAKE A TOUGHER LINE ON HOME LOANS
ABSA, South Africa’s largest bank, has announced an increase in the deposit that potential homebuyers must pay when asking for a home loan.
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