An unexpected consequence of Covid-19 was that many of us worked from home, with almost as many wondering why we hadn’t done this before. Why hadn’t we? We had the technology, we had the means. What we were lacking was the business buy-in. Lockdowns forced this, and in many instances it worked fine. Going on three years later, a consequence of this is that around a quarter of Sandton office properties are now standing vacant. This is not unique to SA.
Which is a leading indicator pointing to a quiet apocalypse in the office property market … No dramatic announcements yet All of our local listed real estate investment trusts that have office space begrudgingly acknowledge the pressures – but if we are honest, there have been no dramatic write-downs, impairments or declarations of this stress financially. I am not picking on Redefine Properties , but rather using it as an example.
BrenthurstSA Wow.. Sandton has fallen. Hehe. Hillbrow here we come. The infection spreads like sewage.
Load shedding, corruption, an ineffective government - investors are leaving SA for greener pastures.
Things changed and to be honest the property sector was hoping we go back to pre-covid normal. Peripheral suburbs are already recycling office space e.g residential conversions.