Limited foreign ownership and conservation values have led to commercial property values in Johannesburg outperforming those of London and New York for the past decade.
Capital value appreciation in JHB reached 7.5% over the last ten years according to the Investment Property Databank Global Cities Report. This beats New York at 3.6%, London at 2.2% and Munich at 0.1% over the same ten year period.
Norbert Sasse, CEO of SA’s largest property group, Growthpoint, said because SA and its listed property sector had not experienced a financial crisis as its US and European counterparts had, it was sheltered from the global property crash.
“SA listed property fared better than other global market because we never experienced liquidity shortages. The local listed property sector continued to have access to funding and our properties have always been conservatively valued,” Mr Sasse said.