The former petrol station next to Game Centre in Greyville has been vacant for so many months that any movement on the site is an indication of the general boom in the property market.

Secondhand car dealer Zaheera Hansa, of Torino Motors, says he will be opening a showroom there next month.

"It seemed like a good spot and the rentals were good," he said.

Another indication of the market is news from Investec Property Group.

The company said its new leases signed in the first half of 2003, hit R265.3 million.

The company with R11.5 billion of property assets under administration, including the assets of the two listed funds, Growthpoint and  Metboard, said this defied market expectations of bearish activity.

Instead, Investec Property Group secured "substantial office, retail and industrial leasing deals", the company said.

The first six months of this year saw Investec finalising R158.7 million value (133 242m2) of new commercial, retail and  industrial leases in Gauteng.

Office leasing activity led the way, with  51.5% by size of the leases in this sector, followed by 34.27% of new industrial  leases, and 14.23% of retail leases.

In the Western Cape, the company notched up 74.348m2 of deals done, at a value of R87 million.

"There's been a surge of demand for industrial space in the Western Cape, and our portfolio is virtually fully let. Industrial leases signed make up some  44 383m2," said David Stoll of Investec Property Group, Cape Town.

In Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, a further R19.6 million of lease value was signed and sealed, including the 4 800m2 ShopriteHyper in Newcastle.

"The retail sector notwithstanding, we've also managed to bring vacancies in our industrial portfolio down to zero, on the back of R2 million of new industrial leases being signed," says Greg de Klerk, Investec Property Group, KwaZulu-Natal.

In addition, Investec Property Group fulfilled its mandate from Liberty Properties and secured R50 million worth of leases at Liberty Midlands Mall in  Pietermaritzburg. These were effected via Investec Property Group's Johannesburg  office. - The Mercury