Property

South African shopping mall giant giving Gauteng the boot

Luke Fraser

 ·10 Mar 2026

Hyprop, an owner of premier retail space in South Africa, is looking to reduce its exposure in Gauteng.

In its results for the six months ended 31 December 2025, Hyprop said that it owns nine prime retail centres in South Africa, which include four in the Western Cape and five in Gauteng.

While the group finalised major initiatives at its Gauteng malls, such as the opening of Checkers FreshX at Hyde Park Corner and the first Walmart at Clearwater Mall, it is looking to cut back in the province.

“Our proactive approach focuses on expanding our presence in preferred regions, such as the Western Cape and Eastern Europe, while strategically optimising our Gauteng assets to maximise sustainable, long-term value for our stakeholders,” it said.

For instance, the group announced the sale of a 50% undivided share in Woodlands Boulevard Shopping Complex in Pretoria for R750 million in February.

The group said that the transaction supports several key objectives, including reducing its exposure in Gauteng.

The sale will also enable the JSE-listed company to recycle capital into other opportunities and allow it to remain the owner of the majority undivided share in Pretoria Mall and participate in future upside.

During the period, Woodlands saw tenants’ turnover increase by 3.6% and trading density increase by 9.5% as a result of Pick n Pay and Edgars’ rightsizing.

Securing tenants for the space vacated by Edgars is imminent, while the mall also added M&B and the Absa Bank branch was revamped.

The sale of Woodlands also comes hot off the heels of the failed sale of Hyde Park Corner in Johannesburg.

In July 2025, Hyprop announced that it had entered into a sale-and-leaseback agreement to sell 50% of Hyde Park for R805 million, with an option to sell the remaining 50% in two years.

However, the sale was terminated because the purchaser was unable to fulfil certain conditions precedent to the deal.

While the Hyde Park deal fell through, it still highlights Hyprop’s growing move away from Gauteng amid ongoing questions over the province’s governance and service delivery failures.

Financial Results

The group recorded a strong performance over the period, with the trading density rising by 7.5% in HY2026, significantly above the 4.3% increase in HY2025.

The retail vacancy rate reduced from 4.2% at 30 June 2025 to 3.1% as most of the rightsizing of anchor tenants was completed, and the reclaimed space was let to new tenants.

Distributable income for the period was R864 million, up 12.9% from R765 million in December 2024.

Distributable income per share for the period was up 5.4% to 212.3 cents compared to 201.4 cents in HY2025, and comes amid an increase in the number of shares.

The group’s basic earnings per share rose by a massive 122.8% to 611.9 cents, while headline earnings per share increased 44.0% to 198.9 cents.

Dividends per share rose by 4.9% to 118.98 cents, while the net asset value per share increased 8.0% to 64.43 cents per share.

Woodlands Boulevard and Hyde Park Corner Images