Office occupancies in Cape Town and Durban could well be seeing an upswing – welcome news in markets that have suffered from rising vacancies in the wake of corporate downsizing and restructuring in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The StatsSA November 2021 release of non-residential building plans pointed to early signs of weakening to come for the Commercial Property Building Sector in the run up to 2022.

The civil unrest seen in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July had a devastating impact.

After a year and a half of pandemic conditions made worse by South Africa’s crippled economy, rising municipal rates and tariffs, violent protests and looting, it’s safe to say the commercial and industrial property sectors have had a difficult time of late.

Brokers continue to see all 3 major commercial property buying/selling markets as substantially oversupplied, but the perception is that the Industrial Property Market’s oversupply is the least significant.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seen three major trends emerge as drivers of investment in Africa’s Commercial Property space.

Spear REIT Limited (SEA:SJ), with its exclusive focus on high quality Western-Cape only assets, released its FY2021 results on 14 May 2021.

Irongate Group  (IAP or the Fund) has today released its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2021, its first since acquiring the management rights from Investec Group and becoming an internally managed REIT.

Emira Property Fund (JSE: EMI) has received written notice from its major shareholder, the I Group, that the I Group and its concert parties have raised their stakes in the REIT and now hold 35.003% of its voting rights.

Irongate Group (ASX: IAP; JSE: IAP) has entered into agreements to acquire: