By Bob Kernohan

Reopening a specialist property division to serve what was thought at Johannesburg head office to be a dormant market in the Eastern Cape has paid big dividends, says its regional manager.

"More has happened on the Nelson Mandela Bay and Eastern Cape property market in just the past three years than had taken place in the last 10 years," Standard Bank property finance regional manager Charl de Coning told a meeting of the SA Property Owners' Association last week.

"Standard's head office decided to close down the property branch in Port Elizabeth several years ago because of a lack of business. But they decided to reopen again at the beginning of 2005 when they saw the local boom starting.

"This has meant that from being a one-man operation when I opened the office at that time, we now have a staff of four, and business is good."

De Coning said in an interview after the Sapoa meeting that from a zero base, the regional office now had a list of 60 clients and had completed in the region of 70 deals, ranging between R1,5-million to R50-million, in commercial and industrial properties.

"We have exceeded all head office expectations and are already at 120% of our target for the year after only seven months. It looks like we could end up at 150%."