Abstract
Abstract : In March 2007, the KwaZulu-Natal coast was hit by storm swells which severely damaged coastal properties. The economic loss was estimated to be more than R1 billion. Risk associated with the changing climate is on the increase and if the number of studies (nationally and globally) regarding this phenomenon are considered, there is a need to quantify this risk. This raises questions regarding property valuers’ knowledge, behaviour and attitudes regarding climate change and their impact on the well-established property valuation processes and procedures in South Africa. In national and global studies, a variety of concepts, unrelated to market value or a manipulated form of market value, are used to quantify economic loss. However, financial decisions regarding property, plant and equipment are made based on the concept of market value. This presents the question this study attempts to answer: How does the predicted rise in sea level and its ensuing risk affect property valuers’ behaviour in the coastal residential real estate market in Sedgefield, South Africa and how can property valuers quantify the climate risk? This study aimed to identify the knowledge, behaviour and attitudes of property valuers in a particular property market, on the southern Cape coast of South Africa, regarding the predicted rise in sea level. A mixed methods research approach by way of a two-stage sequential exploratory design, beginning with an initial phase of qualitative data collection and analysis, followed by a phase of quantitative data collection and analysis was followed. This provided the researcher with an opportunity to collect, analyse and incorporate qualitative and quantitative data in one study. The results was used to develop a model property valuers can use to determine a risk factor when they develop an opinion of the value of coastal residential properties. In this study a mixed methods approach was pursued. The southern Cape coast was chosen as two separate studies conducted in 1993 and 2010 identified it as the stretch of coastline along the South African coast most vulnerable to a rise in sea level.
D.Phil. (Finance)