The Social Accounting Matrix (Sam) Approach to Measuring the Size and Linkages of the Real Estate in Gauteng, South Africa

South Africa boasts an advanced real estate market compared toot her African countries. A recent study showed that the real estate sector has strong linkages toot her leading sectors in Gauteng’s regional economy; its contribution through multiplier effects because of these inter-sectoral linkages is enormous. The real estate sector directly contributed substantially to economic development; constituting 17% of regional employment and 16.6% (159,968.1 million Rand) of the region’s total GVA (Vom Hofe and Cheruiyot 2018). Moreover, with past evidence, especially where initial shocks in the real estate markets–following the 2008/09 financial crisis–led to massive macro-economic instabilities and economic decline, motivate for a need to understand in more detail the size and inter-sectoral linkages of real estate sector if regional economies are continually to formulate economic resilient strategies. This paper will use Quantec economic data as well as employ principal component analysis to decompose Gauteng’s SAM to measure the size and identify inter-sectoral linkages of real estate sector. Possible policy recommendations will be suggested.