Remembering what the sector has survived should give us courage, come what may

Having a chat with one of the country's top local manufacturers I realised just how hard hit many businesses are from recent events.

A pandemic followed by a war is not good for anyone, he said, speaking to me in the weeks in which we saw rising petrol prices and watched Russia invade Ukraine.

The war may seem far away, but the man, whose business operates from prime commercial property, said he was already feeling the pinch. "It's hard to be in business and cope right now. We are haemorrhaging cash."

He's not alone. The slight glimmer of hope seen as we emerged from stringent anti-Covid restrictions may very well go out if the realities of war, and an ailing world economy, spread.

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While it may seem like a picture of doom and gloom I was encouraged to watch how this man was hustling to stay relevant and to make his products affordable to a consumer whose purse strings already have little room to manoeuvre.

John Loos, an FNB economist, says we are safe right now, but if the war is prolonged, we could all be hit, and this will have a ripple effect on all property sectors, including commercial and residential.

I draw courage, however, from what we have survived in the past two years, and the resilience and creativity we have shown.

If anything the human spirit is far stronger than we can even fathom and has risen above the harshness of world events.

So too, is the spirit of the property sector, itself having surfed a tsunami to return as positive as always.

Remembering what this sector has survived should give us courage, come what may.

* Vivian Warby is editor of Property.