The following table highlights the level and annual growth of commercial planning activity (April year-to-date) across the main metros of South Africa.

Only Cape Town is presently showing significant growth in office planning activity and Durban’s level has been steadily increasing over the past five years and is relatively strong. Pretoria is however recording the highest level of activity in 2006 largely owing to owner occupier demand. The Johannesburg market is clearly awaiting a stronger signal for rentals but judging from the low vacancies around most nodes, a surge in rental levels is imminent

Retail planning activity levels are significantly strongest in Johannesburg with nearly 94 000m² worth of plans approved thus far in 2006 and, as with Pretoria, is the highest over the past five years. Supply in Cape Town and Durban suggests that the retail supply chain has matured somewhat

Regarding the industrial markets, Cape Town is very much the strongest market with Durban and Johannesburg at similar levels. In most markets, the current level of industrial planning activity is the strongest that it has been over the past five years.

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Source of data: Stats SA

The commercial supply trends intuitively indicate where the various property markets and sectors are positioned in the property cycle. In general, developers and businesses now want more clarity regarding the interest rate outlook before significant further commitment to new space occurs.

Marc Schneider
eProp Research
(011) 441-0377