MAIN IMAGE: Theo Mseka – CEO and MD of Aviv Germany and Immowelt, and a former MD of Private Property South Africa
Editor
Theo Mseka, now CEO and MD of Aviv Germany and Immowelt, returned to South Africa this week to speak at the Real Estate Industry Summit (REIS) 2026, and used the platform to make a data-driven case that emigrating to Europe is no windfall, at least not for property.
Mseka, who previously led Private Property as MD and served as CPO of Property24, relocated to Berlin recently after building real estate portals across 18 markets globally. He was invited back as a keynote speaker by Private Property, his former employer.
His central argument: South Africa’s property market compares favourably to most of the world, and agents who understand that – and adapt to new technology – are better placed than many of their counterparts abroad.
Don’t be fooled by the European postcard
Since relocating to Berlin, Mseka said the most common question he gets from South African colleagues is whether life and business are better abroad. His answer, delivered to a roomful of property professionals, was an unambiguous no.
He drew on his own experience in Charlottenburg, one of Berlin’s most sought-after neighbourhoods, to make the point. Fibre internet, a basic utility in most South African suburbs, is only being rolled out there now in 2026. “I had fibre in Diep River down the road here in 2014,” he told delegates.
His argument was not that South Africa is without problems; load shedding, water outages and potholes all got a mention, but that the country consistently underestimates how far ahead it is in areas that matter, while fixating on what it lacks.
The demographics
Mseka drew on global population data to make the case for South Africa’s long-term property demand. The world is projected to grow by around 750 million people by 2035, with more than half of that growth coming from Africa. South Africa alone is expected to add roughly 4 million people to its population over the next few years.
He contrasted this with Germany, where the population cohort aged 60 to 80 is now double the size of those aged 0 to 20. “This is how countries die,” he said.
South Africa’s median age is 28, with 62% of the population under 35. The Western Cape has moved from 5th to the 3rd most populous province in recent censuses. Mseka argued these are structural drivers of housing demand that are often underappreciated.
Affordability
Using data from Numbeo, Mseka presented a global comparison of property costs relative to income. In Hong Kong, purchasing an average home requires the equivalent of 30.9 annual salaries; in Paris, the figure is close to 16. Mortgage repayments in Hong Kong consume 221% of the average monthly income.
South Africa sits well below these figures, and Mseka said this gap is already showing up in buyer behaviour. He pointed to increasing interest from European buyers – German, French, Dutch and Portuguese – as well as buyers from Zimbabwe and Kenya, all attracted by relative affordability.
He offered a direct comparison: €170,000 buys a 45-square-metre one-bedroom apartment in Berlin. The equivalent in rand, around R3.5 million, buys a 2,000-square-metre stand in Bryanston. At the top end, €1 million secures a 110-square-metre flat in Berlin versus a 375-square-metre home on over 2,000 square metres in South Africa.
Technology and the agent
Mseka spent the second half of his talk on AI and property technology, arguing that most innovation in the sector currently focuses on back-office efficiency, automated valuations, tenant screening, lease management, and fraud detection, rather than on consumer-facing tools.
He pointed to Homes AI from homes.com as one of the more credible consumer-facing implementations he had seen: a conversational interface that lets buyers search by preference, take virtual tours, and ask questions about specific properties. But he noted that even in that demo, the user’s final request was to be connected with the listing agent.
“The technology can be as great as it can be. Real human connections are what close transactions,” he said
On whether AI will replace agents, he argued it won’t, but commissions may come under pressure over time, as has happened in other markets. His advice to agents was to use AI for administrative tasks and focus human effort on client relationships and negotiation.
“The agents who benefit most from AI are those who position themselves as AI-augmented advisors,” he said.
Resilient by design
Mseka closed by urging agents to treat the current period as a foundation-building phase, citing South Africa’s resilience amid load shedding and economic turbulence as evidence that the market can absorb shocks.
“If you’re resilient by design, you’re building that foundation now, and you’ll be around for a long time.”
