ANOTHER leader of the Cape property sector, Richard Edwards, head of commercial property finance at Nedbank Property and Asset Finance, has said that he now has the fullest confidence in the ability of Cape property to continue appreciating in value in the year ahead.

In August and September last year, said Edwards, he had begun to suspect that the residential market was approaching its peak - but, he said, it has continued to flourish despite the higher interest rates and the current boom is likely to continue for the foreseeable future - even if interest rates do not drop.

'Three factors,' said Edwards, 'are fuelling demand: foreigners with strong world currencies are these days responsible for anything from 10% to 20% of the sales at the upper end of the market; secondly at the lower end there is a strong desire among former residents of Mitchell's Plain, Bonteheuwel, Elsies River and similar areas to move into more prestigious districts.

Thirdly, and this is happening now with increasing frequency, the ordinary investor has moved into property, abandoning the JSE, unit trusts and overseas money markets in favour of a market which, he or she now believes, is more predictable and reliable.'