Although Finance Minister Trevor Manuel did not specifically include any property-friendly items in his budget speech last week, his scrapping of taxation on interest for pension funds is expected to be a major boost for the listed property sector.

Listed property loan stock company Pangbourne Properties, which is predominantly an industrial-focused property company, reported on Friday that its distributions had increased 10,6% to 52c for the six months to December.

Listed property loan stock company Calulo Property Fund has delivered below-par growth in distributions for the six months to December

CBS Property Portfolio has completed a remarkably successful maiden year as a JSE-listed property loan stock investment and holding company.

The construction of the first phase of Raceway Industrial Park in Germiston is expected to commence this month (November 2006).

Calulo Property Fund has major expansion plans, with the firm targeting a market capitalisation of R1bn over the next year, says new MD Cheryl Wendelken.

Calulo Property Fund was the top performer in the listed property sector last month in terms of total return

LISTED property loan stock company Pangbourne Properties announced yesterday it would acquire a 40,6% interest in fellow listed property stock Calulo Property Fund in a R140,3m deal.

Listed Property Fund, until recently rather slow on the transformation front, are expected to step up black empowerment deal-making over the next few months to comply with the requirements of the Property Sector Transformation Charter signed last week by Government and industry players.

South Africa's Listed Property index produced a total return of 2.23% last month, bringing its total year-to-date return to 37.74%, according to the latest review of the listed property sector by Catalyst Securities, released this week.