Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa October 2014 | Page 50

OFFICE

BY MIKE WALTERS

Investment

Hotspots and
Opportunities
Key trends in the office sector

I

f you are an independent investor looking to
purchase a commercial or office property, there are
some key trends that need to be considered as you
conduct your research.
Sectional title popular
There has been an increase in demand for sectional
title offices from small to medium enterprises that are
seeking smaller pockets of space due to the fact that
there are multiple advantages when acquiring an office
in a sectional title development.
This shows that it’s not all gloom and doom for the
office sector, despite there being a high national vacancy
rate of around 14%. Growth in the office space sector
is directly related to movement in the global economy
and hopefully South Africa is becoming more of a
production-driven economy.
High demand areas
But even with the current poor economic figures as
seen in the South African Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (SACCI) July 2014 report, there are still
opportunities for an individual or a business to purchase
an office in a high demand area such as Sandton,
Bryanston, Rosebank and Craighall in Johannesburg.
If these are areas where you would like to base your
business or are confident of finding a tenant, you are
essentially investing in high demand areas as the listed
JSE property funds do. If you place your business in
the premises as a tenant, then you are investing in
yourself by paying rent to your property entity, thereby
securing a better future for you and your business. In
this scenario, if necessary, you could also ultimately
remove the need to pay rent at all.
The other influencing factors that you need to consider
are mobility, access and travel (or rather the cost and
time cost of travel).

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October 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

Commercial hotspots in residential nodes
The northern Johannesburg suburb of Bryanston, for
example, has always been sought after among residential
property investors. Seventy years later, the area has
retained its residential appeal, but is also seeing growth
in commercial nodes. The ongoing infrastructural
upgrade has helped - now with 560,000sqm of office
space, and more becoming available, there seems to be
no limit for opportunities.
The Sloane precinct seems to have the right access
to N1 and William Nicol, Main Road and Bryanston
Drive. It maintains a high standard of neatness,
control and maintenance. The newer and upgraded
retail centres further enhance the appeal of this retail/
commercial node.
Gautrain routes
The Gautrain rapid rail network is also drawing interest
in commercial property investment, as well as new
developments around the station precincts, notably
in Johannesburg’s prime northern nodes of Rosebank,
Sandton and Midrand. Do not overlook the Gautrain
bus routes