2025 was a year where we saw many green shoots grow into saplings and provide hope for a country that has seen its economy decimated over the prior decade and a half.
These little saplings include the continued settling into national power of the GNU, the constantly diminishing threat of load shedding (Eskom actually reported its first full-year profit in eight years for the 2025 financial year), the reduction in the inflation target and the subsequent impact that has on reducing the interest rate, South Africa’s removal off the FATF’s grey list, a major rebound in the tourism sector and certain other industries, even the muted impact of Trump's tariffs demonstrating that our economy is more resilient and diversified than we previously thought. Good news now easily outweighs bad news in the national press, and this has relatively quickly led to a 180-degree shift in local and global sentiment towards South Africa’s prospects for the future. Our country needs these saplings to take root and to continue to be nourished as we move into the second half of this decade, which will ensure more people in our country will prosper.
When looking at a more localized picture in KwaZulu-Natal, a province that was devastated by floods and social unrest and has gone through a rapid shift in political dynamics, the potential for growth is just as exciting. The Public Private Partnerships being rolled out at Durban port’s Pier 2 (Container Terminal) and some of our rail network, which when coupled with the major road upgrades to the N3 and N2, is expected to drastically improve capacity and efficiency for a huge amount of trade throughout the country and will solidify KZN’s strategic importance for the country.
KZN has also seen increased manufacturing investment, particularly in the automotive sector, namely Mahindra’s new assembly facility and the Ogihara and Toyota joint automotive components manufacturing facility, both in Dube Tradeport and Hesto Harnesses’ new manufacturing plant in Stanger.
KZN still remains a very diverse and affordable tourism location for locals and foreigners and the completion of Club Med at Tinley Manor in 2026 will certainly add another dimension to the provinces offering and should lead to further growth along the already booming North Coast, while we do also note a resurgence in the beautiful South Coast.
We can quite comfortably say KZN is on the up and our young saplings are taking root.
From a company perspective we've clearly noticed the improving fundamentals and change in sentiment and are happy to note that we’ve had a solid year of trading in 2025. Although our company is very well established and mature in many senses (I’d humbly call compare Maxprop to an evergreen tree), we still work very hard to recognize and nurture green shoots and young saplings both internally and externally for the benefit of our loyal clients and to ensure we stay relevant and at the forefront of our industry. We are constantly working to improve our service levels, which is driven by up-skilling staff, better processes and systems and having the right attitude when doing the job.
We’ve seen good growth in our Community Schemes division where our focus on professional and solution-driven service has yielded new referral business and we’re looking at some exciting opportunities for 2026.
Our Commercial and Industrial brokers, as well as our Residential Sales and Letting agents have been hard at work this year and we’ve seen a good level of deal activity on both fronts, and we’re hoping the effects of the recent interest rate cuts will translate into a bumper 2026.
Our business interests in Gauteng have increased after a successful investment syndicate was concluded in Midrand. This investment was significantly oversubscribed and gives our Commercial and Industrial Property Management team additional exposure to a region we have a lot of confidence in.
We’ve consolidated and rationalized various areas of our business and our ongoing investment in our staff continues to be the key to our future growth. During the year we launched our new Maxprop Mission and Muscles (a.k.a. Values) which are proudly displayed as you enter each office. These were established after months of consultation with our staff and serve as a daily reminder of the Mission we are on and the Muscles we must flex.
We are excited about the opportunities in our industry and our economy and look forward to continuing to invest into our core business as well as into fixed property through our syndication division – this will ensure our company remains sustainable and evergreen for many years to come.
