JSE property index hit by global woes

GLOBAL market woes and local interest and inflation rate uncertainty continue to dampen the listed property sector, with the South African listed property index recording a negative total return of - 4 % last month writes Nick Wilson.

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My Rosebank - if you're wondering what the good news is, well, this is it (and only for some). With prices of food and fuel and electricity going up, suburbia is in less demand as a project (more expensive to get to, more expensive to pay off). This follows a trend that is well underway in the US, and recently underway in the UK.

For the first time recently I heard the words: 'global recession'. You'll be hearing them more often, and bankers will still be in a fugue about what's causing it. Those traffic jams to petrol stations on the eve of fuel price hikes are a clue. Traffic jams in general are too. I hope you live close to work.

A Dysfunctional Living Arrangement

The struggles behind suburbia's closed garage doors and driveways may appear to be invisible, but not seeing (think Horton and the Kangaroo) is still believing. And what we're not seeing is what is happening in the streets of London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. Well, believe it or not, it's not much of a stretch - what's happening here, is happening there, in fact it's happening everywhere:

With gas costly, drivers finally cut back

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And we see the implications each day when we watch TV tunes or listen to the radio. Prices, all prices, are on the up and up.

That means behind closed doors, father's must explain to their children that they can't eat out as often, and they will have to wait 'a while' before they can get a new cellphone/doll/computer game/pair of shoes/tin of beans.

The end of suburbia means the beginning of something else. Essentially it is a more European, more village-scale style of living, with less driving and more walking. Most buildings are three stories high, and multi-purpose (store on the ground floor, living and offices immediately above).

What we are already seeing is a new kind of urbanism developing and people are actually willing to pay a premium for these. These are walkable communities, not entirely functional or plugged into organic systems, but integrated and at least friendlier than traffic based systems. Over time we will see parking lots converted into something more functional for people, and less functional as large temporary storage spaces for motor vehicles.

Visit a valuable resource on this subject - The End of Suburbia.