Resource information
Urban land can be defined as a commodity that is traded or as a right that is used to obtain access to urban amenities. Both are important components of urban land. Land is considered to be a commodity when it is bought and sold freely and a right to which all members of society should have access whether they are rich or poor. This report provides an analysis of both the formal and informal property markets for urban land in South Africa. The formal market which comprises of Suppliers: developers, land owners and contractors, Consumers: upper and middle-income households and individuals, Transaction Agents: estate agents and conveyancers and Regulators: Register of Deeds and Municipalities is basically focused on accumulation of assets. The extent to which any of the actors benefit from the operation of the market depends upon the investment decisions that they make within the context of their operating environment. Generally, low-income households are not able to enter and transact in this market due to lack of resources to compete for and invest in these lands. Several government interventions to give the poor access to these markets have had some successes and failures. On the other hand, the informal land market comprises of Suppliers: property owners and facilitators, Consumers: low-income households and individuals, Transaction agents: Facilitators, speculators, community organisations & leaders and Regulators: Local Government and the police. This market is primarily focused on land use. The study states that the formal and informal markets operate side by side and government efforts to push them closer together have been thwarted by high regulations and transaction costs and a lack of access to finance. In conclusion, the study recommends that while the informal market provides access for low-income households, it is desirable to expand the access frontier of the formal land market to include as many low-income households as possible. The reason for this is that the formal land market allows low-income households to generate wealth. Accordingly, interventions in the land market should focus on reducing the polarisation between the two markets and increasing symbiosis. This should be done by increasing the basis by which low-income households can participate in the formal market and increasing the formality of the informal property market. The ideal is to have one market where formal and informal overlap substantially.
