Fin24.com recently ran a story on its website that South Africa’s property industry has already lost 55 000 registered estate agents out of 90 000 as a result of the weaker housing market.

As interesting as the story were the comments left on the web page by readers:

  • Stan
    About time, with their exorbitant commission at 7% per sale it about time some of these crooks went t1ts up!
  • Louis
    Good riddance. Should have happened ages ago. They are the bloody same as insurance agents and IT specialists, a dime a dozen. Always on your case if you are interested in property, knows what you want without asking, and tries to sell you the property that they will make the most commission on. Thanks for leaving and making my choices mine for a change!
  • Gert van Wyk
    Great news!!! This means 55 000 less estate agents to phone you at 1800 at night to try and convince you to sell your house with which you were perfectly happy. Oh yes I forgot, you then have to buy a more expensive house and the agent walk home with two deals. We will also be less exposed to name dropping, an must have quality for estate agents.
  • This may not be representative, but I get the impression from these comments that there is some discontent about the residential property broking system.

    Author

    • A journalist for more than two decades, Reg Rumney has just returned from Grahamstown to Johannesburg after spending more than seven years at Rhodes University, teaching economics journalism. He is keenly interested in the role of business in society, and he founded the Mail & Guardian Investing in the Future Awards in 1990 to celebrate excellence in South African corporate social responsibility. Most recently, as executive director of BusinessMap, he was responsible for producing reports on foreign investment, black economic empowerment and privatisation, and carried out research work in Africa on issues related to the investment climate. He writes on, amon other things, foreign investment and BEE, focusing on equity transactions.

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    Reg Rumney

    A journalist for more than two decades, Reg Rumney has just returned from Grahamstown to Johannesburg after spending more than seven years at Rhodes University, teaching economics journalism. He is...

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