Sales of agricultural land shows increase in black ownership

Statistics released by Windeed, an online search tool for property information used by most conveyancers in South Africa, showed that roughly 13% of all agricultural land traded in the past year was transferred to black owners.

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According to Ernest Pringle, Agri SA’s agricultural development policy committee chairperson, from April 2015 to March 2016, about 4 325 agricultural properties were transferred, of which 576 were transferred to black owners.

Pringle said that "of the 576 properties, 453 were sold through the market [willing buyer, willing seller]; 111 were sold to the government for land reform, and 12 were indeterminate and categorised as "other"".

The total area transferred to blacks was 265 257ha, of which 172 423ha was sold privately, Pringle explained.

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“The average price paid per hectare was R15 519, which tells you that most transactions were in high rainfall, fertile areas, or on the fringes of metros,” Pringle added.

Pringle stated that as it was impossible to work out the racial component of corporations and trusts, therefore these figures for black ownership could be even higher.