New property investment in Cape Town’s Central City worth in excess of R5.7 billion was recorded in spite of the tight economy and huge pressure on the construction and other sectors caused by the pandemic.
Five of the 13 completed property investments are either hotels or aparthotels, which have already opened. These include the aparthotel The Rockefeller , Hotel Sky , aparthotel BlackBrick Cape Town , The Capital 15 on Orange and the Old Bank Hotel . The myriad residential and mixed-use properties coming onto the CBD property market indicate that agile developers are confident there is a market for buyers, says Kane.The all-important retail sector – which makes up 1 163 of the 2 981 entities doing business in the CBD – remained stable, despite lagging economic conditions. A total of 81 new stores opened in the Central City last year, with 44 closing down, resulting in an overall increase of 37 retail entities.
The total vacancy rate of retail space in the Cape Town CBD – 26,747 m² – amounted to 9.9 % of the total retail space available. This is less than the vacancy rate in 2020, which was 11.5 %. Office space in the CBD available for rent increased by 14,936 m², due to a 14,306 m² increase in A-grade office space.