Established in 1987, Rode is an award-winning South African firm specialising in real estate economics, property valuations, property research and property consultancy. It is also an award-winning property valuation firm. It is best known for its suite of Rode publications, which track and forecast the property market. Rode offers its services throughout South Africa. Rode introduced to South Africa the regular, rigorous surveying of market-rental levels and capitalization rates through the expert-panel method of polling – a crucial and first step towards more uniform and realistic market valuations by the property industry in South Africa. The results of these surveys are now published in four research journals. Rode's Report – the flagship amongst these publications – is used as a reference 'bible'​ by property practitioners. The Department of Public Works insists that all leasing-in rentals should conform with the Rode Report data, thereby confirming the authority of this publication. Rode has also been responsible for a number of other 'firsts'​:
• a unique econometric model to forecast the South African real estate market (the model's outputs are regularly published in one of the Rode publications);
• the statistical determination of standard capitalization rates;
• property demand forecasts;
• the estimation of market rentals in shopping centres and for industrial premises of various sizes;
• special methodologies to value income-producing properties;
• a further refinement to the valuation of land with residential township potential using the direct-comparison method; and
• a further refinement to the valuation of bare dominiums.
