Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June 2014 | Page 43

REI Commercial Soon after the start of this year, a new powerful interest in commercial property investment in the Greater Cape Town area became evident. The high demand and shortage of stock situation is exacerbated by the serious lack of stock in the high demand areas such as Marconi Beam, Montague Gardens or Killarney Gardens and Paarden Eiland for industrial space and Century City, Milnerton, the CBD and Claremont for office space. ‘Good’ industrial space is now leasing at R45 to R65 per m2 and the less expensive areas at R38 to R44 per m2, while in high demand office space is renting at R110 to R160 per m2 and in the low demand areas at R70 to R110 per m2. In all areas, she said, rents are now rising by 6% to 8% per annum. Valuable Input Laurence Rapp CEO Vukile Property Fund Dylan Ross-Kent CEO Hygizone Sandile Nomvete CEO Delta Property Fund Investing in listed property, like SA REITs, is less costly than ow ning a physica l property, plus it offers all the benefits, and more, of direct prop er t y ow ner sh ip. T he quality of these SA REITs inf luence our economy and the quality of people’s lives. SA REITs are also making it easier for all South Africans to gain access to the benefits of property ownership. The 2013 Global Tenant Survey by t he Bu i ld i n g O w ner s & M a na g er s A s soc iat ion I nter n at ion a l ( BOM A) – identified health and hygiene amenities as a latent opportunity for property developers and owners. The BOMA survey indicated that hea lth and hygiene features correlated strongly with tenant satisfaction of f e r i n g a n o p p o r t u n it y to increase propert y value especially as hygiene amenities are often rare in buildings in South Africa. It was announced recently that DPF reached its f inal distribution to a guidancebeating 72.69 cents per linked unit for its first full financial year as a JSE-listed property fund. This is attributed by the out-performance of its substantial growth in assets, its increased management capacity for its growing portfolio and excellent debt management, among other factors. www.reimag.co.za June 2014 SA Real Estate Investor 41