While office occupancy levels have stabilised in SA’s major cities, it could be a year or more before progress is made in mopping up the significant vacancies that have plagued the sector for close to a decade. There has been an oversupply of office space because of rampant development in the mid-2000s. New developments driven by premium tenants have left A-and B-grade buildings vacant. But things are slowly turning for the better, according to experts. Confidence in the economy and property investment gained some momentum at the end of 2017, which continued in February when Cyril Ramaphosa replaced Jacob Zuma as president, South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) CEO Neil Gopal said at a recent media lunch. Sapoa’s latest national office vacancy report showed the rate was 11.2% at the end of December. This was unchanged on the quarter before, but off the high of 11.8% recorded in the second quarter of 2017. "Asking rental growth has slowed further over the past quarter, in...
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