Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February/March 2019 | Page 28

FINANCE
Are Johannesburg’s Rates
Increases Unjustified?
The impact of rate increases can negatively
affect your investment
BY ANDREW WATT
W
ith petrol prices reaching record highs, water and
sewer charges increasing well above inflation, the
reintroduction of load-shedding and consum-
er confidence dropping due to job losses and low economic
growth, it seems tone deaf of the Johannesburg Municipality
to be taking pride in its recent record revenue collection.
Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba announced with
much fanfare that the City collected a record R3.6 billion
in August 2018, R400m more than budgeted revenue. He
attributed this to the “sustained improvements in billing and
collections” while ignoring the major impact of the updated
Johannesburg property valuation roll, which came into
effective on 1 July 2018.
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine