REI honoured at SAPOA Journalism Awards 2026
Real Estate Investor has been named runner-up for Property News Website of the Year at the SAPOA Journalism Awards for Excellence 2026, after securing nominations across three major property media categories.
- REI was shortlisted across publication, property news website and digital and broadcast media categories at the 2026 awards.
- The recognition places REI among South Africa’s leading specialist property media platforms at SAPOA’s landmark 60th Annual Convention.
- The judges praised the overall strength of this year’s journalism while challenging property media to push independence and transparency further.
REI recognised among South Africa’s property media leaders
Real Estate Investor (REI) has received runner-up honours for Property News Website of the Year at the SAPOA Journalism Awards for Excellence 2026, at a glittering awards ceremony at Sun City on Thursday night during SAPOA’s 60th Annual Convention.
The recognition caps a strong year for REI, which secured nominations across three categories:
- Property Publication of the Year
- Property News Website of the Year
- Digital Broadcast and Media
For REI, being shortlisted across all three was significant in itself.
A strong field of property journalism
Competition across the awards was substantial. Real Estate Investor Magazine competed against Positive Impact, Elevate Africa and Asset Magazine, while in the website category REI was up against Property Flash, Property Wheel and Rode Publications and Media.
The Digital Broadcast and Media nominees included entries associated with Alistair Anderson, Ashley Muller, Noxolo Majavu of Business Day and Suren Naidoo of Moneyweb.
The awards also recognised individual property journalists from publications including Financial Mail, News24, Business Day and other specialist property media.
What the judges said
SAPOA’s message around this year’s awards was particularly relevant to the future of property journalism.
The judging panel described the entries as demonstrating impressive strength, diversity and calibre, with compelling stories delivering fresh perspectives and useful insight into the property sector.
But the judges also challenged the industry to raise its game. Their priorities included:
- greater distinction between fact and opinion;
- clearer transparency around sponsored content;
- more independent voices beyond press releases;
- stronger investigative and questioning journalism; and
- stories that create meaningful conversations rather than merely repeat announcements.
That is an important benchmark for specialist property media.
The people behind the judging
The 2026 judging panel brought together experienced representatives from the media and property industries. The judges included:
- Brian Azizollahoff, Managing Director of Unipark Property Group
- Nonzamo Hadebe, Chief Operating Officer at SAM International
- Bronwyn Noble, Managing Director of Patchworks
- Giselle Tsotetsoe, Southern Africa Correspondent at C4 Africa
- Journalist and editor Rob Rose.
SAPOA said submissions were assessed with rigour, fairness and integrity, drawing on the judges’ combined property, media and storytelling experience.
SAPOA described the process as one undertaken with a critical eye and deep understanding of the property industry, with submissions assessed for excellence and impactful storytelling.
Building REI’s next chapter
Since launching in 2007, REI has developed from a specialist investment magazine into a broader property intelligence ecosystem.
Today that includes REI.co.za, REImag, newsletters, REI Live webinars, executive interviews, video, investor education, events and property market intelligence.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Neale Petersen said the recognition provides further motivation to keep raising REI’s editorial standards.
“Being recognised by SAPOA across three categories is something our entire team can be proud of. A runner-up award against such a strong field reinforces how far REI has come, but it also gives us another reason to keep improving.”
“The judges’ challenge to property media is one we take seriously. Our job isn’t simply to publish more content. It is to produce better journalism, ask better questions and give investors intelligence they can genuinely use.”
Recognition and unfinished business
A runner-up award is recognition of what has been built, but it is not the destination.
As REI approaches its 20th year, the focus is on strengthening independent journalism, original reporting, market intelligence, video, data and investor education while continuing to connect investors with the people and ideas shaping South African real estate.
The objective for the next chapter is straightforward: Keep raising the standard. Keep asking the difficult questions. And keep giving South African property investors an edge.
