Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - October 2017 | Page 42

Business Property
Retains Value in Strategic Cities
BY SAMANTHA BARTLETT
T
he value of commercial and industrial property in cities
that are securely entrenched in their national econo-
mies by clearly defined and pervasive primary func-
tions is likely to show more resilience in challenging economic
conditions.
This according to James Dall, Joint Managing Direc-
tor of South Africa’s leading specialist property sales house
High Street Auctions, who says Johannesburg and the Kwa-
Zulu-Natal region around Durban are prime examples of
local economies that have demonstrated relative stability in
non-residential real estate prices in the past two years. 
“Durban is arguably Africa’s busiest cargo port. Some 4 500
vessels dock in the harbour annually and thousands of contain-
ers stream off the berthed ships every month to destinations
across Southern Africa,” says Dall, who is also a qualified civil
engineer. “Being such a critical container port that dispatches
goods worth more than $45 billion a year, it unquestionably
plays a key role in the country’s economy.
“Johannesburg, also known as the City of Gold, likewise
started with a specific role of extracting vast mineral resources,
at the same time transforming itself into the financial capital
of southern Africa.”
According to Lightstone, commercial transactions to the
value of some R127 billion took place across the country last
year, with Gauteng claiming the lion’s sha