MAIN IMAGE: Wiehahn Koch – Private Property CEO
Private Property
Wiehahn Koch joined Private Property as chief executive officer in September, bringing a banking background. He says his first year will focus on understanding the business and sharpening what the portal offers agents, consumers, and partners.
Koch joins the portal from Capitec, where he most recently led embedded financial services, growing distribution through partner platforms. Before that, he helped launch and grow the bank’s home loans business.
Asked why he made the move, Koch said his financial services work had shown him the role a portal plays in buying a home. “What became increasingly clear to me is just how important the property platform is in the overall homeownership journey,” he said. He added that he sees scope for Private Property to do more “for consumers, for agents and for our partners”.
A platform, not a listings site
Koch said he intends to apply lessons from financial services. Chief among them is that platforms work best when they make it easier for different participants to create value together. “Private Property isn’t simply a website with listings. It’s an ecosystem connecting consumers, agents, developers, financial partners and other players in the property journey,” he said.
He said he wants to ask where friction exists in that journey, where technology can simplify things, and where partnerships can add value.
He took a similar view on finance. “Listings are an important starting point, but they’re not the destination,” he said. In his view, buyers also face questions about affordability, finance, insurance, legal processes, and moving. He added that the portal doesn’t necessarily provide all of these itself, but connects people with the right information, tools, and partners at the right time.
Understanding the business first
Koch said he does not plan to arrive with a fixed agenda. “I don’t want to come in assuming I know all the answers,” he said. He wants to start by understanding the business through its staff, agents, consumers, and partners.
From there, he wants to define a clearer value proposition for each group instead of treating them as a single customer base. For agents, he said, that means quality opportunities, better leads, and products that help them grow their businesses. For consumers, it means a more trusted property journey with less friction.
What agents are saying
Estate agents are the portal’s core paying customers. Koch said they value its reach and brand but want clearer evidence of a return. “Agents tell us that they value the reach and brand of Private Property, but they also want to see a clear connection between what they’re investing in and the value they’re getting back,” he said. He described that expectation as reasonable.
On balancing large national agencies against independents and single-agent operators, he acknowledged that their needs differ. In his view, larger groups may need scale, data, and integration, while independents may need affordability, visibility, and tools to compete. “Our job is not to favour one model over another,” he said.
Koch said he plans to spend significant time with agents. He wants to learn what takes up their time, where leads fall out of the process, and what information they lack. “I don’t want to build a strategy for agents without building it with them,” he said.
Competition and regulation
Koch was asked whether the Competition Commission’s push towards a more open, interoperable portal market is a constraint or an opportunity. He said the portal should aim to be chosen for the value it delivers, “not because of friction or barriers elsewhere in the ecosystem”. He added that the regulatory environment reinforces the importance of transparency and fairness. If the portal gets that right, he said, openness becomes an opportunity rather than a threat.
Technology and AI
Koch said technology and AI should remove friction across the property journey for both consumers and agents. For first-time buyers, he wants the portal to work as a connected whole rather than a series of separate touchpoints. That would cover everything from affordability and property search through to contacting an agent. “The technology should feel almost invisible, and the experience should just be easier,” he said.
Why now
Koch often quotes the line “If not us, who? If not now, when?”. Asked what that means for Private Property, he pointed to changes in consumer expectations, technology, and how people find, finance, and transact in property. He said the aim is to act now, not in reaction to competitors but to “shape what comes next”. “If we have the opportunity to improve the property journey for millions of South Africans, why wouldn’t we do it now?” he said.
On a personal note
Asked what he looks for in a listing, Koch said location comes first. He added that, as a golfer, he would also check whether there is a course nearby.
