The March 2005 edition of the SAPOA Office Vacancy Survey continues to reflect the trend that office vacancies in most office nodes are reducing.

Dave Russell, director of Baker Street Properties, comments,” The quarterly survey confirms that vacancies in most office nodes in Cape Town have declined, in some areas by a substantial percentage.

“At first glance there may appear to be a distortion of the figures, however it is important to note that certain changes have been made in the way SAPOA has defined and re-graded A, B and C grade buildings.

“The new SAPOA definitions for Premier, A, B and now C Grade buildings have been used to re-grade the buildings included in the survey.  Because of this, certain properties may have been moved to a different grade, which in turn has increased or decreased the number of buildings surveyed in a particular sector.  However, even after re-grading the figures confirm that the vacancy trend continues to be down.”

Russell continues,” Dramatic reductions have been seen in Claremont where ‘A’ grade vacancies are now down to 4,9%. This time last year the vacancy was 32%.  Increased demand combined with office block conversions to residential have been responsible for this reduction. This sudden change has even taken developers by surprise as no new office developments are presently under construction.

“The Cape Town CBD continues to enjoy increased demand which has seen ‘A’ grade vacancies reduce from 10,7% a year ago to 7,3% today.  ‘B’ grade has shown a major reduction from 15,2% a year ago to 12,4% today.  Residential conversions have also contributed to this reduction especially in the ‘B’ grade category. “

“The Rondebosch / Newlands node vacancies continue their downward trend with ‘A’ grade down to 3,7% and B grade 5,3%.  Pinelands vacancies continue to be low at 1,2% and 1,5% for A and B grade respectively. Century City Premier grade is down to 2,2% and A grade now at 4,9%. The B grade figure of 17,2% looks high but in fact represents only 485m².

“From the landlords’ and owners’ perspective these figures continue to reflect a positive outlook for offices in Cape Town,” concludes Russell

ends

Issued by:  Fraser 4 Public Relations
Contact:     Donald Fraser Bett (021) 531-3789 or 083 270 7393
On behalf of:  Baker Street Properties
Contact:  Dave Russell (021) 419-9000