According to the FNB House Price Index residential property prices have declined relative to inflation for the second year running.Let me paint a quick picture of the South African property market: Consumer Price Index (Inflation) sits at 4,5% while property prices have only increased by 3,3%. 

Why would anyone invest in this type of product when you can simply invest passively in index funds and get BETTER returns with a more diversified product at lower levels of risk?  

Test the market for similar properties in the area, rental sites etc.Renters expect landlords to raise their rents every year at a minimum the annual cost of living index.

Not sure if this is the appropriate thread to respond to, but a question or possible suggestion about the podcast -  Is there an index of some sort?  

Use references, clearly organize drawings, beef up the index sheet with typical notes/details & coordination.

That's how much that monthly expense compounded over 10 years is going to cost you instead of putting that money in index funds.

I would say this phenomenon is the same as when the stock index crashed, major expensive stocks like Facebook and google crashed as well ;-) but cheaper stock that's not too correlated to the main market, has much lower volatility. 

Permanent Relocation PaymentAmounts shown are for Fiscal Year 2016-17 and shall be adjusted annually based on the changein the Consumer Price Index (All Urban Consumers – San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose region).

Intangible rights to the asset may be another story...https://www.sec.gov/about/laws/sa33.pdf(1) The term ‘‘security’’ means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a ‘‘security’’, or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.

As someone who has no issue with low/no load index funds, I think it's the best place for retirement money in most cases.