That's no longer the case. The long-awaited turnaround in the office sector now seems to be well under way, with a marked rise in rentals already noticeable in many business nodes. So much so that it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a good office address for less than R100/sq m in most cities. In Cape Town, new office space currently under construction on the Foreshore was recently let at a record R200/sq m.

Retail and industrial rentals have already risen sharply over the past two to three years. And commercial property players expect rentals to continue their upward march as it becomes more difficult and costly to build new commercial stock. Building materials shortages, as well as construction and engineering skills shortages, are placing huge upward pressure on building costs, making it less viable to add new commercial buildings to the market.

The shortage of zoned land suitable for development, coupled to long delays in getting land zoned for development, is another constraint. All those factors will no doubt combine to place further upward pressure on commercial property rentals over the next few years.

That raises the question whether it still makes sense to rent an office, factory or retail outlet or is it perhaps now a better bet to buy your own business premises? The issue is particularly relevant to start-up businesses, as accommodation costs can obviously impact quite heavily on the bottom line of any new venture.

We asked Eton Price, who heads Sasfin Bank's property finance division, to share his views on whether start-up businesses should rent commercial space or rather become property owners from the outset.

Says Price: "Buying and owning your own real estate is an expensive exercise and, depending on the level of capital available to the start-up business - which is probably under capitalised to start with - it would be beneficial to consider renting space to start with, for the following reasons:

* The success of the business should be a priority and available capital should be channelled into the business as opposed to related investments (such as buying the property).
* Gauging spatial requirements is difficult, so you could find your acquisition criteria (space/location) change very quickly, to the extent that you have redundant space or you've outgrown the space acquired.
* Installation costs for office space could be around R400/sq m to R1 000/sq m for new offices. How is that to be funded? In certain instances, landlords will provide an allowance to tenants for those costs.