3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
10 results
Search Results
Item The location and the nature of Airbnb listings in Johannesburg and their impact on property prices and the availability of long term rental stock(2019) Niselow, TehillahThe popularity of the digital or the ‘shared economy’ has become almost ubiquitous amongst the middle and upper classes in developing and developed countries. Many people wonder how they managed before ride hailing applications such as Uber and short-term accommodation rental applications such as Airbnb. These technologies have changed the face of commuting and travelling within cities as well as travel for business people and holiday makers. Despite the relative novelty of these technologies, there have been concerns raised about their impact on labour rights and housing prices in some countries. Regulators in several of the world’s tourism hotspots such as London, New York and Amsterdam have stepped in to create controls around Airbnb to mitigate concerns about rising property prices affecting locals. In South Africa, there has been anecdotal reportage in the media about the link between the popularity of Airbnb and rising property prices in Cape Town. While Cape Town has received more attention, the number of Airbnb listings in Johannesburg is growing, though still relatively small compared to other metropolitan cities in the world. No large-scale study has been undertaken into the phenomenon in both cities by government authorities or academic scholars. This research report looks at the nature and location of Airbnb listings in Johannesburg as well as data on rental and property prices in Johannesburg and nationwide over the last five years. In the report, I also make use of interviews with real-estate agents and city planning authorities to consider whether Airbnb has impacted housing prices or spatial patterns. This report concludes that most Airbnb listings are located within areas in Johannesburg that are already well connected to economic opportunities and infrastructure. In addition, the research shows that Johannesburg, a city in a state of flux and ever evolving, is not like cities within developed countries with relatively stable economies. Due to difficult economic conditions in recent years and weaker property prices as well as rental incomes, it is not possible to find a correlation between the rise of Airbnb and property prices.Item Property-type diversification strategies and their performance implications on the South African real estate investment trusts(2018) Bantseke, ThathatsoBackground - Extensive research that examines the performance implications of regional and property-type diversification has been undertaken in Asia, United States of America and the United Kingdom. Research on South African real estate investment trusts’ (SAREITs) diversification strategies is insufficient. The South listed property market is ranked amongst the largest sectors on the JSE with 35 SA REITs listed on the JSE, which represent a market capitalisation of over ZAR435 billion which is 6% of the JSE All Share Index market value. The size of this sector emphasizes the importance it within the South African economy. This study is of significance to the academic fraternity as well as local and international investors and asset managers who are interested in participating in the South African REITs market Purpose -The study investigates the effects of property-type diversification on SAREITs performance through literature review which explores the key variables in the diversification and performance relationship to create an understanding of the REITs sector. Correlation and multiple regression analysis is undertaken utilizing secondary data from Published Annual Financial Statements, MSCI South Africa and INET BFA Databases. The REITS analyzed have the majority of their underlying property assets located within South Africa and have been listed on the JSE for the 2014 to 2017 financial years. Findings - The findings from the literature review highlight that property type diversification strategies although playing a paramount role in portfolio formation of REITs and performance, the returns of companies are also influenced by other moderating factors such as property specific, organizational and industry characteristics. Regressions between return variables with the property types and degree of diversification of REITs, show both positive and negative relationship but these associations were found to be statistically insignificant. The hypothesis is not fully supported by the statistical data analysis and entails that other non-systemic risk factors such as“firm leverage policies”;“management style”;“net asset values”;“size of REITs stock” and “property location” need to be analysed in conjunction with in order to yield more robust results. Limitations - The study focused on SAREITS with the majority of their underlying property assets located within South Africa and listed on the JSE for the 2014 to 2017 financial years. Complete regional data on the listed REITs was lacking which restricted the study to an analysis of property type strategies. Utilisation of secondary data restricted the research to a single set of data and this impacts on the findings as some of the data is incomplete. Further studies in this area could include regional-type diversification strategies analysis over a longer observation period.Item Investigating the importance of non-financial determinants of owning or leasing industrial real estate in Gauteng(2018) Muchengwa, Dorica DakaCorporate real estate is required by firms to operate business and this can either be owned or leased. Either option requires substantial amounts of money. Despite this fact most studies conducted have focussed on tangible corporate assets in general and not corporate real estate in particular, the reason put forward being that this asset type has diverse intangible aspects which makes the own or lease equation a complex one. South Africa is the second largest economy on the continent and has a real estate market rivalling that of European countries by size; these facts are reason enough to support investigating the real estate market in detail. Gauteng Province accounts for 34.4% of the country’s GDP and 23% of this is from the industrial sector. This study, which is based on a 2011 UK study by Barkham and Park, sought to establish whether non-financial factors play a key role in the decision to own or lease industrial real estate in Gauteng Province. The study used an empirical approach using Thematic Network analysis to explore the non-financial determinants of owning or leasing industrial real estate from data obtained from 4 firms. Findings reveal that both financial and non-financial determinants are considered in the LVB decision for industrial CRE in Gauteng. Ranking of these factors showed that 3 of the four respondents ranked the non-financial ones first followed by some financial ones. It is suggested that further research be conducted to cover a larger population i.e. industrial firms in the major cities with a large industrial presence country wide. Additionally one which includes different firm sizes and a mixed method for data collection and analysis.Item The impact of integrating entrepreneurship education in a real estate degree programme on entrepreneurship intent(2017) Masia, KaraboThe lack of entrepreneurship is an obstacle to economic development. In South Africa (SA), disciplines are taught in a context that is enterprise-based, with no emphasis on the need to impart business start-up skills within specific disciplines. A culture of entrepreneurship is lacking, resulting in low records of entrepreneurship incidents in SA. The challenges and/or benefits of integrating entrepreneurship education within the South African real estate (RE) course and its effects on graduates’ entrepreneurial intent, is not well understood. The purpose of the research is to investigate whether the introduction of entrepreneurship education within the RE discipline would encourage graduates to become entrepreneurial in the practice of real estates. A mixed methodology approach has been used in this research. Primary and secondary research data has been made available in the form of questionnaire surveys of graduates and course directors/lecturers from the University of the Witwatersrand and other international universities that have entrepreneurship education embedded within their real estate programmes, as will be selected by the researcher. The research has found that both pedagogical strategies of course work and applying experiential learning teaching methods would be required to effectively integrate entrepreneurship education within a real estate programme in a manner that would stimulate graduates to be entrepreneurial in the practice of real estate, although it was not known whether the graduates would actually start businesses and when they intended to do so. It was also found that those students whose studies took place in real estate programmes that had entrepreneurship education embedded in them were more commercially aware. The integration of entrepreneurship education also resulted in an improvement of graduate self-esteem and confidence. Graduates were endowed with adequate professional, interpersonal, technical and business skills. The research, however, found the majority of real estate courses lacked in teaching graduates to be more versatile. The courses largely lacked in the provision of industry exposure and were inadequate in teaching graduates how to market themselves and their real estate businesses. According to the findings on the individual entrepreneurship test, graduates that studied entrepreneurship-based real estate courses had a higher probability of starting a business.Item Corporate real estate management: a survey of the South African entertainment & media companies(2017) Selamolela, MatlaPurpose- The main objective of this study was to determine a particular knowledge and skill of the senior management of the South African entertainment and media industry towards corporate real estate management. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]Item The importance of the non-financial determinants of the lease versus buy decision for corporate office real estate in Johannesburg(2017) Chetty, Jeremy JohnThe objective of this study is to provide empirical support to the study of corporate real estate by classifying and providing proof on the significance of the non-financial determinants of the lease versus buy decision for office real estate in Johannesburg. By means of a logistic regression coupled to the use of a Kruskal-Wallis test, this study sought insight to company characteristics, locational and physical attributes of office real estate that could predict the lease versus buy decision for corporate real estate based on a survey involving 13 companies occupying office real estate located in Johannesburg. The results do not show a positive correlation between company and site specific characteristics. These were not significant predictors of the lease versus buy decision for corporate real estate. The results indicate that the majority of the respondents prefer a combination of leasing and owning versus solely leasing or owning their corporate real estate. The dataset used in this study is based on a survey that was conducted online, which involved 13 companies occupying corporate office real estate. The small sample size affected the confidence level of predicting the outcome of the decision. This paper demonstrates the need for a broader theoretical system to comprehensively investigate the lease versus buy decision for corporate real estate, which is often limited to financial aspects, but should also include locational and physical attributes, real estate economics and it’s alignment to business strategy. This study seeks to provide an empirical contribution to the field of corporate real estate research by presenting proof on the significance of the non-financial determinants of the lease versus buy decision for corporate real estate in Johannesburg. Keywords include: Lease versus buy, Corporate real estate, Corporate strategy, Real estate, Financial modelling, Logistic regression, Kruskal-Wallis test, Likert scale.Item The financing of corporate real estate acquisition, a South African study(2017) Avivi, RamiThe purpose of this study is to fill specific gaps in the existing body of knowledge of South African corporate real estate management by investigating the determinants influencing the lease versus buy decision; the methods and financing sources of corporate real estate acquisition; and the criteria used in deciding on the financing technique for corporate real estate acquisition. The research followed a similar methodology to that of Redman and Tanner (1991) in their study “The Financing of Corporate Real Estate: A Survey”. However, it specifically focused on the South African corporate real estate environment. The data collection instrument was an online survey and the survey produced quantitative descriptions of certain aspects of the population. The population for the research was corporate real estate decision makers of leading South African companies. The data captured was presented through the aid of tables, charts and graphs. The data was further analysed through cross tabulations and hypothesis testing using the Chi Squared test of independence to determine significance of results. South African firms use some form of leasing (mainly long term leasing) in acquiring their corporate real estate. However, ownership is also a common form of real estate acquisition through the use of mortgages secured by the acquired property, mortgage backed securities and sale of unsecured bonds. The decision criteria for acquisition includes both financial and non-financial determinants. Financial analysis is also an important factor in analysing the lease versus buy decision. This is mainly done by comparing the undiscounted cash flow of leasing versus buying. Where a discounting approach of evaluation is used, the most favoured discount rates include the weighted average cost of capital and rate of return on new investments. Mostly outscored professional services are used when making the lease versus buy decision. The benefit of this study was to understand the factors influencing the corporate real estate decision making process and to provide a corporate real estate decision makers with a decisional framework when determining the form or real estate tenure. Future studies should attempt to secure better response rate to allow for robustness of results and other methodologies of analysis.Item An overview of the initial performance of South African Real Estate Investment Trusts(2016) Ntuli, MpiloSouth Africa implemented the REIT structure in 2013 with the intention of encouraging local and international investment. A year after implementation South African listed property was reported to have performed better than the UK, European, and Asian REITs. This report assesses the initial performance of South African REITs and their portfolio diversification benefits when paired with Shares, Bonds, T-Bills, and other Listed Property in a mixed-asset portfolio, over the period May 2013 to December 2015. The findings show that REITs are the second best performing asset, risk-adjusted. REITs are a return-enhancer when included in a mixed-asset portfolio, and tend to contribute at the higher end of the risk spectrum. This reports contributes to the few that exist on emerging markets, it is a study of the only major REIT market in Africa, and is significant as it discusses South African REITs from their implementation.Item The relative importance of property-specific factors that influence office occupation decisions in P-grade, A-grade and B-grade office buildings in the decentralized office nodes of Johannesburg, South Africa(2016) Meiring, EstellePurpose – Within the paradigm of consumer behaviour, the purpose of this study was to determine the relative importance of the various property-specific factors that influence office occupation decisions in the decentralized office nodes of Johannesburg. The aim was to provide more definitive information on office space occupation to real estate marketers, managers, investors and owners. Design/Methodology/Approach – A Malaysian study by Adnan et al. (2012) was replicated in the South African context, utilizing their (adjusted) questionnaire survey. After review, Adnan et al.’s (2012) data analysis methods were altered and, in addition, three key-informant interviews were conducted to discuss the results of the survey and to try and gain further insight into the findings. Findings – The three categories that were considered of highest importance were Cost/Financial Considerations, Services and Management. Factors that scored the highest overall were Security & Access Control, Car Parking Provisioning & Accessibility, Electricity Systems & Provisioning and Rental Rate. The categories On-site Amenities, Space Functionality & Atmosphere and Location were considered of least importance. Research Limitations/Implications – The study was confined to property-specific factors and limited to tenants in P-grade, A-grade and B-grade office buildings in the decentralized office nodes of Johannesburg. It also took place during a specific stage of the South African economic cycle. Further research is required to determine the impact of office grade, firm type, firm size and economic climate on office occupation decisions. Originality/Value – No research on this topic exists within the South Africa context and this study contributes to the limited research, internationally, on real estate within the consumer behaviour paradigm.Item A study of corporate real estate as an instrument for corporate branding(2016-07-13) Bell, AndrewPurpose: The primary aim of this research is to establish an awareness of CRE as an instrument for branding and determine which aspects of CRE may contribute to and even strengthen the corporate branding of companies. Design/Methodology/Approach: Comprehensive literature review, together with a quantitative analysis of an in-depth questionnaire survey sent to owneroccupier companies and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with industry professionals. Findings: Not all aspects of corporate real estate are equally important when considered in relation to corporate branding, furthermore the importance of these aspects vary between the different owner-occupier groups surveyed. Research limitations: this research was limited to a relatively small group of owner-occupier companies that occupy recently developed buildings in the primary office nodes in Johannesburg, South Africa. Practical implications: The primary objective is to aid corporate real estate managers and developers in better understanding how the strategic positioning and intrinsic aspects of CRE can influence the corporate brand of a company. Originality and value: This research identifies and ranks the different CRE aspects that could be utilised as part of a corporate branding strategy, no concluding evidence has been established as to how the identified aspects can be used as part of a corporate branding or corporate real estate strategy. Recommendations: Further research to establish how the identified corporate real estate aspects could potentially be implemented as part of a branding strategy or CREM strategy. Keywords: Real Estate, Branding, Strategy, CRE, CREM.