According to Andy Beddow, a director of Baker Street Properties, although the industrial property market still generally favours the tenants, there is a looming shortage of large good quality high-volume warehousing with only a handful of buildings still available.

Beddow says,” Our records reflect that approximately 445,000 m² of industrial property available in the Greater Cape Town area is vacant - two thirds of which are buildings over the 1,000 m² size mark. 

“In the last 8 months 80,000 m² of industrial space has been taken up, predominantly in the sector of buildings over 1,000 m².  In Epping alone there has been 40,000 m² taken up.  We are seeing more and more redevelopment in this area due to its central location, not only for logistics reasons, but also because of easy access for staff. “

Beddow adds that power availability across the metropole also remains scarce.  He says that users looking for large power supplies have a very limited choice in terms of property alternatives.

Significantly, rentals have not changed in the last 12 months and are not expected to increase during the balance of the year.  The average gross rental across the board is still R30.00/m² (excl. VAT), with good quality warehousing reaching R48.00/m² (excl. VAT).

“Industrial land still averages around R1,000/m² (excl. VAT), but we are not seeing much new development.  Even with lower interest rates, access to development finance is scarce.

“In summary, although there is a fair amount of industrial property vacancy in Greater Cape Town, we expect this to be slowly eroded due to very little new development in the pipeline, “concludes Beddow.