The decision by the South African Reserve Bank Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to cut interest rates by 25-basis-points has been welcomed by High Street Auction co director, Greg Dart.
This move – together with the setting of a new inflation target of 3% and an upbeat 2025 Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in Parliament last week – will bring the year to an end on a positive note and pave the way for growth during 2026, he says.
Auctions trace back at least to 500 BCE, with Herodotus documenting Babylonian marriage markets – the earliest recorded use of competitive bidding as a resource-allocation mechanism. From Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi fetching $450 million to Banksy’s self-shredding masterpiece, auctions have sold everything under the sun. Properly designed, auctions reshape markets, reveal true prices, and inject speed, transparency, and competitive fairness that ripple far beyond the bidding floor.
This five-part series is an exploration to build understanding of the auction’s role, impacts, and function across industries and economies. In this first note, we set the stage – examining why auctions matter and how their often-overlooked mechanics influence markets large and small, across industries, countries, and through time
At a recent conference, Professor Adrian Saville took a long hard look at the economic challenges facing South African businesses – and proposed some bold solutions for overcoming them.
In the words of legendary baseball coach Yogi Berra, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
Speaking in the Keynote slot at the recent South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA) conference, well-known author and economist Professor Adrian Saville painted a realistic but ultimately hopeful picture of South Africa’s economic outlook.
South Africa’s economy is at a crucial crossroads with ongoing global trade pressures, a shrinking manufacturing sector, climbing unemployment and low business confidence impeding sustainable economic growth. Yet, there are pockets of excellence and the industrial property sector, for example, remains buoyant despite ongoing challenges says High Street Auction Company director, Greg Dart.
The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to pause interest rate cuts today did not come as a surprise for property expert Greg Dart, a director at the High Street Auction Company.
This week’s revelation that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 0,1% between July and August, with four of thirteen categories in the inflation basket and household equipment and routine maintenance dipping, sparked some optimism about an interest rate cut.
Green shoots are sprouting in the KwaZulu-Natal property sector, a region that the High Street Auction Co is targeting for growth during the second half of 2025, says director, Greg Dart.
“We’ve got a huge pool of Gauteng investors looking to redeploy capital out of this region. While many local competitors in the auction space are reticulating existing money in the province, High Street has an investment pool that will inject new capital into the region.
