RE/MAX enters Lesotho property market
MASERU — Property agent RE/MAX has opened a new office in Maseru, the eighth in southern Africa.
In a statement, the owner and broker of the new office, Brenda Martins, said RE/MAX Casa Blanca Realty decided to expand operations into Lesotho to address the growing demand and opportunities in the property section in Lesotho.
“While a large number of the local people living in Lesotho live below the international poverty line, we have seen a lot of activity with exponential growth recorded in some areas over the past few years,” Martins said.
“The driving factors have been the fact that foreign non-government organisations, expats and diplomatic missions have fuelled the economy in these areas. As a result, the demand for property has been on the rise and is currently vastly outstripping supply.”
Martins said while there are many entry level homes available on the market, there were very few mid-level homes which the majority of buyers are looking for.
“Entry level homes in Lesotho are mainly two or three-bedroom houses ranging in price from M70 000 to M350 000. These homes are generally not in a very good condition and have little appeal for the buyers entering the market,” Martins said.
“Good condition mid-level homes ranging between M800 000 to M2.5 million is where the real demand is, however, there are very few of these on the market at the moment.”
She added: “Houses in this range fetch rentals of between M5 000 to M18 000 per month, depending on their size, location and whether they are furnished or unfurnished. Top-end homes in the M2.5 million to M8 million brackets are available but very limited. Rentals for these properties range between M20 000 and M55 000 per month.”
Martins said the current buyers in Lesotho are mid- to high-level income earners who are mostly buying as part of a buy-to-let portfolio.
This is due to the fact that high demand for property has led to a high rate-on-return on their investment.
Martins added that unlike in South Africa where accessing finance was very difficult, “finance is very readily available to buyers in Lesotho”.
“As such, almost all property sales in the country are exclusively bought through bank finance,” she said.
The strong demand for property in the country has resulted in development projects engineered by some privately-owned companies as well as the state-owned Lesotho Housing and Land Development Corporation.
Some of these developments have taken the Lesotho property market to a new level.
She cited projects such as the Golf View Estate, Masowe, Happy Villa and Mpilo Estate.
RE/MAX of Southern Africa chief executive officer, Adrian Goslett, said: “Considering the vast demand for property and the rate of development of property in Lesotho, it was the natural decision to open a RE/MAX office and offer a comprehensive service to property investors in that market.
“We believe that the RE/MAX brand will add considerable value to the Lesotho real estate market as well as to individual buyers and sellers.”
Comment by stebe on 22 June 2012:
Tsena ke litaba tse ntle ekare re tla bona a rather reasonable market oa matlo. Empa joale ka monna oa mosotho ke ipotsa na ke neng ho tla ntlafatsoa role ea li-regulators ka hara naha ena hore ho ke ho be le li-standards tse tsehelitsoeng ka melao mme li na le matla a molao kahara naha ena to regulate construction.
li-salary li nyane, batho ba bangata in this country earn middle income, and unlike linaheng tse ling moo motho a ka phelang on rentals, rona basotho we want ownership over property not rent housing for life, ka ho reka ntlo ea milone, eo re e nketseng insurance hore e tle e e lefe ebe i can only own it only when im dead.
joale ke etsa qholotso hore theres need for regulation to govern practices on construction, such that our people are not cheated ke lihai tsa matlo. lihai li be all registered, mme minimum requirements li bopuoe ho ipapisitsoe ka standard sa bophelo ba rona hae mona.
taba e ts’oenyang ke hore le matlo a rekoang a mang a sentse a peperana, e le hobane mekonteraka minimize li costs at all cost. and most of them have made furtunes to last them 3 lifetimes with these practices.
joale because people are desperate for cheap labour to own matlo at lower cost, we end up with mokonteraka a le mong a nka chelete ea batho ba bangata a sitoa ho phethisa ts’episo. e mong a senya thepa ea client a qetella a sa etsa mosebetsi o phethahetseng mme ha se bohle re nang le bokhoni ba quantity suveyers le achitect tse tla sireletsa hore seke ra chitoa. joale le tsona lihai e mong le emong o bitsa price tsa lifiliming. ke qholotsa bohle in the industry hore ba ke ba eletse mmuso on policy regarding these issues while making money. its part of social responsibility.
Besides mona, ke utloa monko oa tlhapi ke tla le hole ka taba ena ea matlo a turu ao re ntseng re a nonosoa ke libanka le estate companies mme le mekokolo ena ea li credit card. ke bona taba e na e lebisa ho eane ea thebe ea khale. ke elelloisa banka e kholo to regulate its banks closely on this issues.
ke le layperson ke ke shebile hore mesebetsi e mengata ka hara naha e na ke ea mmuso, mme ke ipotsa hore boholo ba sechaba re reka property re sentse re le baholo. mme meputso ea rona e tlaase, ho bolelang hore, e le hore ke reke ke hloka ho lefa nako e telele. na e be ha ho na nako eo naha e e tla sala le lots of housing structures tsa limilone tseo beng ba tsona ba sitoang ho li lefa le ka property, e be the system collapses re kolota libanka, libanka li kolota batseteli, joalo ka issue ea thebe ea khale?
Comment by stebe on 22 June 2012:
Che ha ke bolele hore ke hampe ha industry e hola, ke mpa ke re e hole joalo e na le melao e e tsamaisang mme le banka e kholo e je lihoete. ke ne ke maketse ke utloa ho thoe matlo ke a middle income, empa price eona e le ea lifiliming, e ka khonoang feela ke le middle income le tlamehang le itlola hampe kapa a na source tse ling tsa chelete ea ho le phelisa ha le ntse le lubana le koloto sena. mme le ha o sheba o bona hore ena ntlo ka cost ea sehai le material tse etsang M300 000, ha ke sa chitoa nka khutleloa ke chenche.