South Africa’s office vacancy rate improved once again to 14.2% at the end of the second quarter of 2024, down 50 basis points from the previous quarter and the eighth consecutive quarter of improving vacancy rates and a rebound in rental growth.

2nd Quarter 2019 StatsSA employment data for the Finance, Real Estate and Business Services Sector suggests likely slowing demand for office space.

The southern suburbs of Claremont, Rondebosch and Newlands have become one the fastest growing decentralised office nodes in Cape Town.

Vacancies in SA’s stock of premier-grade office space remain exceptionally low, despite high levels of speculative development activity, reports the latest edition of the SAPOA Office Vacancy Survey. 

When assessing the latest SAPOA Office Vacancy Survey figures for the 3rd Quarter of 2012 in Cape Town, certain changes to the survey must be taken into consideration, according to Dave Russell, a director of Baker Street Properties. 

Growthpoint's Cape Town office portfolio vacancy rate is now less than five percent

Despite average GDP growth of 2,7% in the 10 years since 1993, close to 2m m² of new A- and B-grade office space was built in Johannesburg's northern suburbs. Even allowing for the 550 000 m² space that is vacant because of over development - and the 400 000 m² that lies abandoned by companies that fled the Johannesburg CBD for the suburbs - that is about 110 000 m² net take-up/year in the past decade.

Despite the oversupply of office space, rising vacancies and the well-publicised exodus from the CBD, Braamfontein is holding its own.