This is according to Org Geldenhuys, managing director of property development and management company, Abacus DIVISIONS.

He said it did, however, rebound from a "moribund start" to the year in January and managed to provide a modicum of returns to investors for the year-to-date.

While the JSE all share index has risen about 12%, not including dividends (total return), the JSE SA-listed property sector index (Sapy) has given investors a small gain of about 2% for the yea- to-date.

The new South African real estate investment trust (Reit) index has managed a percentage point better. Sapy includes the 20 biggest property stocks listed on the JSE. It grew 8.4% last year. The Reit index includes all South African real estate investment trusts.

"The commercial property market," said Geldenhuys, "is not out of the woods yet. We are starting to see pockets of excellence which are really defying a still-tough market. In the first quarter of this year, for instance, a new boutique office park, Quattro Fontane, was literally sold out in the first month of its official launch.

There have been a number of successes like this in the Pretoria area, including industrial office parks. "Quattro Fontane is based in Irene, on of the upmarket areas in Pretoria.

"But while we are seeing some really compelling successes such as Quattro Fontane market pressures remain, meaning there is only limited buoyancy in the overall commercial property market."