It will come as no surprise to those who track the trends in the property world that Bill Rawson, Chairman of the Rawson Property Group, says there are now clear signs of certain developers beginning to suffer badly from ‘property developers’ fatigue’ – but, he hastens to add, this definitely has not affected him or his colleagues in Rawson Developers.
The tragedy of the current situation, said Rawson, is that the majority of those dropping out do have a great deal to contribute and have previously done their bit to house the nation. Their demise, he said, will simply result in further stock shortages.
‘Property developers’ fatigue’, according to Rawson, tends to have three main causes.
The first is the delays and frustrations that result from developers having to cope with local authorities tied up in red tape and unable to handle applications quickly.
“The process of getting planning approvals is, these days, so endless, time-consuming and expensive,” he said, “that many developers who in the 2000-2008 boom provided worthwhile products and made good names for themselves are now simply giving up.”
The second cause of fatigue, said Rawson, is the huge challenge in getting finance. Although some lee-way is given to developers with good track records, this is limited. In most cases the developer will find that he has to explain and justify his financial viabilities and projections to sceptical and possibly inexperienced bank monitors. Once he has convinced them he will still have to come up with guarantees and cross-guarantees.
The third (and often the most annoying) cause of weariness among developers, said Rawson, is ‘that small handful of objectors’.
“We have ended up in a situation where democratic rights are being abused. Small minorities with agendas of their own are able to raise and re-raise objections, many of which have previously been answered, and to hold up multi-million projects ad infinitum. One could have sympathy with such people if they spoke on behalf of their communities. However this is very seldom the case. At Rawson Properties we have repeatedly had the support of the main residents and the most seriously affected parties, only to be stymied and delayed by a few ‘concerned’ people who in many cases have either not bothered or have been unwilling to understand the proposal properly and have simply adopted a ‘not in my backyard’ attitude.”
Rawson said that his own feeling is that objectors’ names and views should be published in the media so that they can be answered publicly by those who favour the new schemes, which in Rawson’s case has always been the vast majority of local people.
As a result of the difficulties which developers have to overcome, said Rawson, projects are costing 10% to 15% more than they would if the delays were kept to a minimum.
Rawson added that, having completed Rivers Edge and Rondebosch Oaks (where the objections were over-ruled and delayed the final phase by three years at a huge cost to the developer) and being virtually sold out at The Rondebosch, Rawson Developers have recently launched Olive Grove at Grassy Park.
They now look forward, he said, to getting the final go-ahead on other developments and to launching three new big projects in Rondebosch and one in Claremont, in the near future.
