Tenant Profile Network’s TPN RentalReport is set to complement existing access for members currently relying on quarterly and custom reports to determine the “good standing” status of tenants.
Last week’s launch of the TPN RentalReport tool has delivered a unique online system to the industry, says CEO Michelle Dickens. As a ground breaking real-time tool, it is based on the Google Maps visual system and is constructed in an easily-navigated, simply designed platform.
“The new tool originated from a market driven initiative, and an increasing need to provide our customer base with a consolidated package of information that would stretch across a broad platform of information supply systems.” She says that the merging of important real time data re-aligns information, from the lowest denominator which is a suburban area, through to rental payment behaviour of individuals, as well as the Living Standards Measure – LSM – of groups in specific suburban nodes.
What this means
Information of this nature will reveal – indirectly – the employment status of an area, the levels of education of tenants, as well as the dominant language groups they belong to. Knowing what the going rate is in an area, and that your investment is located in the best possible geographic setting, is invaluable to investors says Dickens. This first for South Africa is providing the industry with access to rental component with suburb-specific demographics, which provides collated data in non-static form generated in real-time, as opposed to historical.
In fact, she says that a recent meeting with JSE-listed commercial property owner and retail industry leader Redefine International once again highlighted the broad spectrum of information required by owners and tenants. Shopping centre developers, who conduct studies on potential foot traffic and shopper profiles, will now be in a position to provide potential tenants and top brands with more area-specific data.
Rental investments
The RentalReport complements specific information related to how many other rental investments exist in the suburban area of interest. Coupled with historic payment performance data of a potential tenant base, this indicates a win-win scenario that increases investors’ control over their commitment.
Added value derived from this virtual tool will become more significant to buy-to-let investors over the long-term, says Dickens. Cautious and risk-averse landlords habitually increase their long-term prospects through monthly payments for rental monitoring data. More knowledge about what the going rental rate is in a particular investment area would further enable a positive bottom line, and good yield/net profit after property maintenance and rent collection costs are deducted.
Credit amnesty data
Another aspect to the benefits of this tool relates to access to post credit amnesty data. Prior to the amnesty she says, 15.4% of credit customers had adverse listings. Sadly only a “paltry” 4% have benefited from the amnesty, with the total improved status of tenants in good standing that raised from 51.9% to 55.8% in the previous quarter.
Access to the online RentalReport tool is based on data-reciprocity from any registered TPN member via the website. Dickens says members are required to supply their own tenant data in order to access aggregated rental suburb reports.
The data contains information covering stock availability of 3.6 million rented households, which represents 25% of SA’s total population, and is spread across 22 700 suburbs.
The rental industry as a whole stands to benefit from the added knowledge that will bring greater control over long-term investments.
