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Habitat Property is still aiming for a JSE listing

Posted On Monday, 16 August 2004 02:00 Published by eProp Commercial Property News
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Cape Town - Habitat Property Investments, a residential property income fund, was going ahead with its intended listing on the JSE Securities Exchange, Anton Botha, the managing director of Catalyst Property Asset Managers, the manager of Habitat, said on Friday.

Leon AllisonHabitat's listing was planned for the end of last year but was delayed. It is now scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

Botha said one of the reasons for the delay was the relatively small size of the portfolio, which stands at about R400 million.

Habitat was initially set to be listed at a forward income yield of 12 percent and a projected annual return of more than 20 percent.

An analyst said he thought the income yield was too optimistic, given the risk of the fund.

But Leon Allison, an analyst at First South Securities, was more bullish, saying that the income yields of similar funds overseas equated to a higher rating than that of Habitat.


He said overseas experience had also shown that the risk profile of residential funds was lower than that of commercial property funds and hence warranted a lower income yield (higher rating).

But locally listed non-residential property funds on the property unit trust and property loan stock boards currently trade at income yields of just above 10 percent, compared with Habitat's rating of 12 percent.

Allison said the 12 percent yield was also attractive relative to what one could get by investing directly in the residential market.

Last modified on Wednesday, 14 May 2014 11:33

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