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Fuel price rises to affect property
"It's already estimated that up to 35% of household costs go towards travel/ transport and that time spent commuting can average a full day per week.
"Long travel times of course also have other impacts on worker productivity, road maintenance costs, road accidents, infrastructure development costs and so on. So it's clearly in the interests of employees to work from home. Companies, on the other hand, would need less office space."
But it's arguably in the residential property market where there will be the biggest impact in that residential areas that are some distance away from places of work will once again be in greater demand, says Van der Walt.
"That, in turn, will make it possible to effectively decentralise residential development, relieving pressure on transport systems and other infrastructure in the process.
"Homes that are currently selling at a premium because they are close to road and rail facilities may actually see their prices moderate slightly when it becomes less important to be based close to work.
"And homes that lend themselves to the proverbial Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) conversion will be in greater demand while it's also speculated that entrepreneurs will convert suitable residential properties in decentralised areas into business hubs with sophisticated IT equipment for the use of residents in their area. The possibilities are endless and the trend is inevitable along with all the other adaptations people are going to make as oil prices continue to rise." |
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 (Archive on Friday, December 14, 2007)
Posted by hayleym Contributed by hayleym
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