The evolution of South African Real Estate

The South Africa real estate industry can be traced back to the arrival of Jan Van Riebeek in 1652 when land was "acquired" through various means for purposes of food production for the ships passing the cape to and from India - part of the Dutch east Indian company.

Settlements gradually grew with farmers being allotted plots of land in which to grow crops and this was further expanded into the hinterland (from the Cape) wine farms (Simon van der Stel). Farming settlements then sprung up around the country as wars for land continued, then the gold rush saw the establishment of more traditional towns Kimberley And the Reef towns around the gold fields.

Today the South African property industry is highly developer boasting one of the world's most sophisticated land registry process with property rights prtotected against the rest of the world via title deeds registered in one of the 7 deeds registry offices.

The real estate industry became more regulated with the establishment of the estate agents board by way of Act 112 of 1976 and today this thriving industry provides work for in excess of 40,000 estate agents. Barriers to entry are constantly being improved so as to protect the public at large with their property transactions.