The past 18 months have seen a flurry of corporate activity in the listed property sector with property acquisitions, mergers and new listings invigorating the sector and commentators expecting this trend to continue in the medium term.

Analysts expect acquisitions and listings to continue in the medium term

Listed property loan stock company Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop) has experienced a major turnaround in fortune , reflected by its winning the office property category of the Financial Mail/Investment Property Databank (IPD) Listed Property Investment Awards.

Growthpoint to take its South African pitch on Investec's UK road show in the hope of attracting European customers

The South African listed property sector is lagging far behind when it comes to transformation, according to an MBA thesis written by a property player.

Listed property loan stock heavyweights Hyprop Investments and Redefine Income Fund are for the first time collaborating on a shopping centre development on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

Investment Property Databank (IPD) and commercial property association Sapoa will host a property investment conference at Sandton Sun on November 3 and 4.

Much is changing on the South African Real estate scene.  Traditional institutional investors are listing major portions of asset portfolios and large owners are divesting in certain market segments and specialist funds and opportunistic investors are moving into these investments with evident success.  How sustainable are these trends?

Listed property portfolio management company Provest says it believes the listed property sector will see more specialist property funds focusing on certain property or geographical sectors.

Property unit trust Emira Property Fund, which listed on the JSE Securities Exchange SA in November last year, has managed to significantly reduce vacancies in its property portfolio, having let about 20552m² of space in the past seven months.