GEORGE NEWS - Building plan statistics of George Municipality from 2020 till 2024 show that the city is still growing rapidly.
For the four financial years from 2020 to 2024, plans with an estimated value of R15,97bn were processed.
MMC for Planning and Development, Marlene Barnardt, the record number of plans processed not only reflects the city's continued expansion, but also that the digitised systems implemented fully in 2020 during the Covid pandemic are working. The online portal for applications streamlines the system and enable faster processing.
The statistics for plans processed are as follows:
2020/2021: 1 440 plans were processed, covering 213 842m², with an estimated value of R1,64bn.
2021/2022: 2 244 plans were processed, covering 306 182m², with an estimated value of R2,35bn.
2022/2023: 3 967 plans were processed, covering 859 713m², with an estimated value of R6,39bn.
2023/2024: 4 093 plans were processed, covering 735 420m², with an estimated value of R5,59bn.
Property market favours buyers
Tim Kirby, local property expert and broker principal of Lew Geffen Sotheby's, says due to the growth of our town, the several new developments that are in the pipeline, are unlikely to meet the demand. "It is a seller's market. There are stock shortages and therefore property prices are expected to continue to rise. There is very high demand for affordable housing as many of the locals working here cannot afford to purchase homes."
Steve Neufeld, manager principal of Lew Geffen Sotheby's in Plettenberg Bay, says a lot of people are still moving to Plett, which makes business less seasonal.
"A lot of people are also buying holiday homes, [that] many of [them] intend retiring to at a later stage."
He says the Garden Route has seen an increase in foreign buyers who love the lifestyle and can afford much better homes than what they can at home overseas.
Kirby says in the George area, properties being sold would not necessarily be holiday homes. "Here it is more a situation of people buying to let and for the future to come and live here, to either commute for business to other parts of the world, or remote working." The Garden Route is in line with international trends for 'digital nomads' - people living in the Garden Route while working remotely.
Handling the increasing load
Barnardt says by embracing digital transformation, the planning and building control divisions have been geared to meet the increasing needs of rapid development.
"We are positioning George as a leader in efficient governance. The Building Control Division has eradicated all backlogs and has maintained this status of no backlogs for the past three years.
"On-premises modules for inspections and certificates of occupancy have been introduced that have further streamlined the process of ensuring compliance and effective monitoring of building projects.
"Notably, 97,93% of certificates of occupancy were processed within the legislative timeframe during the 2023/2024 financial year."
Digitising has also improved transparency and accountability, reduced paperwork and physical visits, which saves time for applicants and staff.
"Data analytics capabilities have advanced and this enables improved performance monitoring and data-driven decision-making."
For more information, contact Planning on 044 801 9370/9166/9019.
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