“To understand East London’s property scene in 2024 and the prospects for 2025,we need to look back to 2023, when the market was so quiet it was a different space.”
This is the view of one of East London's most successful entrepreneurs — real estate mogul and development & training icon Xoliswa Tini, founder of Xoliswa Tina Properties (XTP).
“In 2023 we would open our doors in faith rather than with expectations of a sale, because people were selling and leaving East London, and there were very few buyers.”
In early 2024 the market stayed stuck but the May 29 election got things moving, she said.
The big change came with the formation of the Government of National Unity. She said it has given people more faith in the future.
“Our offices were so busy there were times we ran out of stock.
"Property developers were searching for land.
"The result is that 2024 is ending with a bang.
"East London had among the top rankings in sales across the board, as did XTP, because we operate in all sectors of the market. Farms were moving.”
When interest rates dropped, sales surged. Upcountry people were buying holiday homes, she said.
Housing estates took off — and Sisa Ngebulana’s estate next to Hemingways Mall, which he developed in the early 2000s, will be one of the winners, she predicts.
The knock-on impact of increased sales is that the building industry gets busy again, meaning all the related trades will flourish.
“I’ve been in the industry for 25 years and I am seeing changes in the buying patterns of people.
"They now spend a long time weighing up a buying decision.
"They pose questions to themselves regarding affordability, interest rates, return on investment, the impact of the economy dipping, and so on.
"Covid certainly made people aware of the downsides.”
A steady migration of people to Cape Town and the Western Cape’s small towns has had an impact.
But “we are still the best positioned province, and out-of-town people are coming here to settle".
Why?
"We have a relatively low crime rate, top schools, low prices, our roads are improving, traffic is not a problem, and there is a lot of choice regarding property."
She said many young professionals, having weighed up the positives, head for East London.
Tini, who graduated from the University of Cape Town, is a trained clinical psychologist as well as a teacher.
She taught English and Xhosa in Port Elizabeth for two years, then moved on to teach at a finishing school in Kwa Langa, where she was a guidance teacher for three years.
After marrying, she relocated to East London and taught guidance and English at a Duncan Village school for five years.
But her entrepreneurial spirit won the tussle and she resigned to open a supermarket in NU13, close to her home.
When she sold the supermarket, the family bought a house in Beacon Bay.
Her first toe-dip into the realty world was working at East London’s RE/MAX.
After only two years, in 2003, she open Xoliswa Tini Properties (XTP).
Working alone that first year, she netted a turnover of R25m.
As part of her passion for training and providing people with the skills to brighten their future, as well as a burning desire to transform the property sector, she established the Xoliswa Tini Training Academy in 2006, which provides accredited real estate training.
She is the only provider of this training in the Eastern Cape, and the first black-owned training academy in SA.
The academy is now expanding its offering to include a range of property-related programmes.
Another first is her target of employing retired or semi-retired real estate professionals, all with strong track records, to work with and coach new entrants in the property market.
“There is no substitute for experience and it is a real win-win by keeping these people in the industry.”
On its 15th anniversary, the company launched the official franchising of XTP businesses.
She said over the years, XTP has shifted focus from purely residential to the full gambit of property —estates and commercial & industrial, as well as facilities management and property management.
XTP has a particular focus on actively expanding its commercial footprint, particularly in Gauteng.
The firm now comprises six independent branches – Nelson Mandela Bay, East London, Qonce, Mdantsane, and Midrand in Gauteng - which are operator-owned, with a full time manager, a receptionist and a team of agents.
“Matchmaking — putting an owner with the right home — is one of the great joys of real estate.”
To listen to Keenan's podcast with Tini go to Dispatch Live today
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