Sapoa ushers in new leadership amid renewed optimism for property comeback

The South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) has ushered in new leadership with the official appointment of Steven Brown as its president, following two years in the wings for his turn to lead the organisation.

Brown takes over from Itumeleng Mothibeli, who handed over the reins at the finale of Sapoa’s three-day convention and 60th anniversary celebrations at Sun City in the North West province on Thursday.

After an amendment to its constitution, Brown will be the second president to serve a two-year term, a deviation from Sapoa’s previous one-year term policy.

In his inaugural speech, Brown said there needs to be a concerted effort by key industry players to lobby the government to leverage the country’s resources for property growth.

“We need to incentivise government to focus more on local direct investment, rather than on FDI (foreign direct investment),” he said.

Brown is also the CEO of Fortress Real Estate.

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“Because until the foreigners see the local industry investing heavily in South African property and in the development of the country, then it’s going to be a futile effort to fly to Dubai, China, Singapore and look for that foreign investment when the locals aren’t investing themselves.”

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Brown said Sapoa, which acts as the voice of the country’s real estate sector, would continue to have frank conversations with the government about what else needs to be done to create a conducive environment for investment.

“I would also like to ask all of the people in this room that when we do engage with regulators or local government to do so in a respectful manner, but I think we can do that by calling them on incompetence and corruption and making sure that we hold them to account,” he added, echoing calls especially for better governance at municipalities.

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The property sector is among those advocating for a cleanup in municipalities with weak governance, deteriorating infrastructure, and poor financial management, which are hampering corporates’ ability to do business effectively.

Brown will serve on the Sapoa board with Mothibeli, Sapoa CEO Neil Gopal, and other returners: Sun International COO Nomzamo Radebe, Equites CFO Laila Razack, Redefine CEO Andrew König, Old Mutual Property CEO Sakina Nosarka and Spear Reit CEO Quintin Michael Rossi.

Property comeback

The latest changes to Sapoa’s leadership come amid renewed optimism about the property sector’s recovery, with 2026 showing the sector’s resilience,  despite global economic uncertainty, market volatility and financial pressure on households. That’s not to say the sector is in the all-clear, but property leaders have labelled it a resurgence.

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