Joburg CBD flat rentals surge

05 Aug 2010

The Johannesburg inner city appears to be the only market in South Africa still offering buy-to-let investors a growing income stream.

That’s true for bachelor flats in particular, with latest figures from property economists Rode & Associates showing that average rentals for bachelor units in the Johannesburg inner city rose a whopping 34, 6% in the year to second quarter 2010.






That brought the average rental for a standard bachelor unit in the Johannesburg inner city to R2,675/month. That means it now costs more to rent a flat in Hillbrow than in Randburg. According to Rode & Associates tenants are currently paying an average R2,650/month to rent a bachelor flat in Randburg’s Ferndale and Fontainebleau. Click to read more

Gautrain CBD

Gautrain enters Joburg with a bang

Some 350 kg of explosives was used in the demolition of a block of buildings in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, to make way for the construction of an underground parking area for the Gautrain rapid rail link at Park Station.

Great news for the CBD

This Artical from Eprop

Office decentralisation and perceptions of crime and grime has seen certain tenants relocating from Braamfontein to the decentralised nodes, but companies such as Liberty Life, Sappi, SafMarine and Rennies have committed to the area, and together with Government, are pumping vast amounts of capital into the area in the form of urban design initiatives and parking facilities. This is now seeing strong improvements to property market fundamentals and investment activity.

Marc SchneidereProp Research

The next arical was taken from business day

Pace Property Group MD David Green says the development of Bridgeview units prices range from R399000 to R1,2m, including VAT. The apartments are trendy and aimed at young professionals and executives.
Green says there is strong demand from buyers for space in Braamfontein. Government’s urban development zone tax-incentive scheme is paying dividends, with developers looking to extract the full benefit of the incentives. “Therefore, we anticipate rapid new development and improvement of inner-city real estate.”
The urban renewal tax incentives were announced by the treasury in October 2004. On offer is a 20% tax deduction from all income earned in the first five years after a building has been refurbished. For new developments, government is offering a tax deduction of 20% in the first year in which the building starts earning an income.
The Johannesburg urban development zone, for which the tax break is applicable, includes the central business district, Newtown and Braamfontein, as well as the high-density, high-rise residential areas of Hillbrow and Berea.
Other low-density residential areas surrounding the general Ellis Park area, such as Bertrams, Judith’s Paarl, Doornfontein and Troyeville, as well as Bellevue, Bellevue East and Yeoville, also form part of the approved urban development zone.

New life in to Braamfontein

Braamfontein has been a part of Johannesburg since 1886, the year the city was established. Back then, Braamfontein was a farm where people lived and worked, and there was a strong sense of community.
Situated north of the city centre, over time the area developed into an important commercial and economic node of Johannesburg, housing a vibrant business district, the seat of local government and various educational institutions and business corporations.
Then, between the late 1980s and early 2000s, the area went through a period of urban decay causing an exodus of institutions and businesses to more affluent areas. It became degraded and run down, but was fortunate in that its vacancy rates remained some of the lowest in the inner city, even during the worst of these times.
In 2002, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and the City council embarked on a R13-million regeneration programme for the area, realising how important the location and function of Braamfontein was to the local economy.
Since then, the JDA has spent more than R55-million on the precinct, renewing the area as a centre of business, entertainment and education.
There has also been significant private sector investment in the precinct, with almost R4-billion spent by investors and developers over the last seven years, resulting in rental rates and land values increasing, and vacancy rates dropping below 10 percent.
Braamfontein remains the fourth-largest node for office space in the city of Johannesburg and is home to a number of South African-based multinational corporations as well as one of the country’s premier educational institutions, the University of the Witwatersrand.
It is on a par with other prime office nodes such as Sandton and Melrose Arch. The area, of more than 428 000m2, is now a mixed-use node consisting not only of A- and B-grade office space, but also with a strong residential component, offering both loft and executive-style apartments and budget accommodation.
Today, the success of this regeneration project can be seen in the beautiful tree-lined streetscapes, public art, and safe, well-lit open spaces. The area has become a vibrant social space again, with coffee shops and small restaurants offering daytime entertainment; and at night the precinct is quiet, safe and clean, the result of its active city improvement district, which ensures quality urban management, safety and marketing remain in place.

How well do you know Braamfontein

The name Braamfontein dates from at least as early as 1853, when this farm to the north-west of Randjeslaagte belonged to Gert Bezuidenhout. In that year he applied to the government to have his farm surveyed. Barely five years later, in 1858, Gert sold his farm to FJ Bezuidenhout.
Like so many farms on the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein was subdivided early on, indicating a fairly dense population in the area. Two other Bezuidenhouts, Gerhardus Petrus and Cornelis Willem, each purchased one third of the farm in 1862, and a third part went to Frans Johannes van Dijk. Between 1862 and 1886 different portions were further subdivided, at escalating prices.
Three other well-known owners were Johannes Jacobus Lindeque, who in 1884, bought a section where the Country Club was established in 1906, and Frans Eduard and Louwrens Geldenhuys, both personalities in Afrikaner circles in Johannesburg.
The first suburb established on the farm Braamfontein in 1888-1889 was unofficially named after the farm, in reality being an official extension of Johannesburg proper. Today this area is still called Braamfontein. There was, however, an earlier but unsuccessful effort to create a suburb prior to this.
Source: Early Johannesburg: Its Buildings and Its People