With growing optimism in the ever-resilient industrial property space, a number of key properties that will come under the hammer at High Street Auction Co’s final property auction for the year on November 28, 2024, offer significant opportunities for proactive investors, says High Street Auction’s director Greg Dart.

With almost R900 million in stock, he says that the event will close out a turbulent 2024 in the property sector and usher in a more positive 2025.

Dart concedes that the economy remains frustratingly stagnant despite a business-friendly election outcome, a dip in inflation and continued rate cuts, stabilisation of the electricity grid and government’s promises of infrastructure investment. He believes that those who pre-empt the move away from the present ultra-cautious investment environment are most likely to benefit from an upturn in the new year.

Like First National Bank’s chief property strategist John Loos, Dart believes that the distribution and logistics space as well as the fulfilment space (on the back of a significant growth in e-commerce in South Africa) are where investors should look first.

The FNB Commercial Property Broker Survey for Quarter 3, which assesses a sample of commercial property brokers in and around the six major metros of South Africa, indicated that brokers were most confident in the industrial and the warehouse property space.

On the back of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s pro-growth medium term budget speech which promised to tackle significant congestion bottlenecks at ports and upgrades of rail infrastructure in conjunction with the private sector, Dart believes a property like the 506 970m² vacant land that is to be sold as a lot or as per seven sub divisions at KwaZulu-Natal’s long overdue Cato Ridge Logistics Hub and Dry Port provides an important opportunity for developers to take advantage of South Africa’s busiest logistics corridor between the port of Durban and Gauteng.

“This expansive vacant land offers a prime location for businesses or developers seeking to establish a foothold in one of KwaZulu-Natal’s key logistics and industrial corridors. With its excellent accessibility to the N3 highway, this property is ideal for light to heavy industrial use, warehousing, manufacturing or logistics operations. The location is advantageous for businesses needing swift transport links to both Durban and Pietermaritzburg, making it a practical choice for distribution centres or industrial complexes,” he explains.

The R18-billion Cato Ridge Development Project is expected to improve the Durban port’s efficiency and create additional capacity through decongestion of the Port Precinct and Durban CBD. Future developments at Cato Ridge will include a rail terminal that can handle approximately 90k 20-foot equivalent units per annum and will be expanded to a fully-fledged dry port intermodal facility, a truck stop and staging facility, further logistics parks and an industrial park.

A second strategic land pocket to come under the High Street Auction Co’s hammer is the site at the Beyers Ridge Distribution Park in Gauteng. Zoned special (light industrial, commercial and residential), the 239 105m² in land which is represented by three separate subdivisions, comes with all municipal services. The area is home to leading blue-chip companies and multinationals and is well located close to the N14 and major highways.

Dart says that the warehousing and logistics segment of the market has remained stable during the most difficult of times. This has much to do with ongoing demand for warehousing and logistics’ space and the growth of e-commerce which is now beginning to move into the retail space given the sudden surge in demand for filling deliveries of essentials such as groceries.

A very balanced auction portfolio that will appeal to investors across multiple segments includes fully-tenanted student accommodation facilities, tenanted industrial properties, apartment blocks, tenanted office buildings, and established shopping centres with national tenants, such as the Ridge Terrace Shopping Centre in Weltevreden Park (tenanted by Pick ‘n Pay,) Hanover Park Retail Centre in the Western Cape (corporate lease with Shoprite,) and Graskop Retail Center (corporate leases with Spar, Tops, and PEP.)

Dart believes that a balanced auction portfolio which includes shopping centres such as this will appeal to prospective landlords who can take full advantage of this emerging trend.

For more information on the auction, visit https://www.highstreetauctions.com