Deputy minister Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele pushes property valuation reforms to curb market prices

Urban and rural development deputy minister Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele has called for property value-based reforms to address rising property prices.

She was responding to questions posed by Popular Democratic Movement member Inna Hengari in parliament on Thursday.

!Nawases-Taeyele said one such reform is the establishment of the Namibia Council for the Property Valuers Profession, under the custodianship of the valuer general in the directorate of valuation and estate management at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, which was inaugurated last March by former minister Calle Schlettwein.

“The said council will take over the regulation of the valuation profession from banks, which have been operating as players and referees over the past two decades. For decades, banks have been the financiers of home loans, yet they hold a dominant position in determining the values of those same properties from which they also benefit in interests,” the deputy minister said.

She said in order to stabilise prices in the property market, collective effort must be made from the Namibia Estate Agents Board under the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy, and the Namibia Council for Property Valuers Profession at the agriculture ministry.

She said fines such as N$200 may have been appropriate for the property market at the time but in today’s market, the time value of money must be considered.

She added that experts would need to determine what N$200 from 30 years ago is worth today, if such fines are still found to be ideal solutions to the same problems.

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