The lack of affordable housing in central Cape Town poses a risk to the city's future, a property industry leader has warned .
The government had ignored inputs from social justice campaigners at their own peril, said Deon van Zyl, chairman of the Western Cape Property Development Forum yesterday.
He told the Cape Town Central City Improvement District's annual business breakfast the city was unwilling to engage with private and social stakeholders on housing.
"Affordable accommodation not being addressed is going to exponentially increase the social risk to development, and by default it will increase the political risk," said Van Zyl.
The industry might get to a point where politicians and technocrats formulated legislation to force it into social housing developments, he warned.
Foreign nationals buying less propertyForeigner demand for South African residential property may be on the decline.
The author of the CCID's 2016 State of Cape Town Central City Report, Carola Koblitz, said the price of residential property in the CBD had increased by 5.24% in the past six months, from R33921/m² in December to R35700/m².
There were around 3 800 residential units in the CBD with a capacity to house 7 000 people, a fraction of the estimated 140000-150000 people working in the city centre.
"What percentage of the people who make the city work, live in the city?" asked Van Zyl, adding that there was a massive opportunity for property developers if they could work with government to deregulate the development environment.
Cape Town rebuked for not housing the poor in CBD
The lack of affordable housing in central Cape Town poses a risk to the city's future, a property industry leader has warned .
The government had ignored inputs from social justice campaigners at their own peril, said Deon van Zyl, chairman of the Western Cape Property Development Forum yesterday.
He told the Cape Town Central City Improvement District's annual business breakfast the city was unwilling to engage with private and social stakeholders on housing.
"Affordable accommodation not being addressed is going to exponentially increase the social risk to development, and by default it will increase the political risk," said Van Zyl.
The industry might get to a point where politicians and technocrats formulated legislation to force it into social housing developments, he warned.
The author of the CCID's 2016 State of Cape Town Central City Report, Carola Koblitz, said the price of residential property in the CBD had increased by 5.24% in the past six months, from R33921/m² in December to R35700/m².
There were around 3 800 residential units in the CBD with a capacity to house 7 000 people, a fraction of the estimated 140000-150000 people working in the city centre.
"What percentage of the people who make the city work, live in the city?" asked Van Zyl, adding that there was a massive opportunity for property developers if they could work with government to deregulate the development environment.
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