South Africa’s new shopping mall capital
Western Cape malls continue to dominate trading densities, even as Gauteng saw higher growth rates.
This is according to the latest Clur Shopping Centre Index, which covers 5.4 million sqm across listed and unlisted property funds in South Africa and Namibia.
Belinda Clur, managing director of Clur International, said the first quarter of 2026 reflected ongoing resilience in the retail property sector.
The index covers 5.4 million sqm across listed and unlisted property funds in South Africa and Namibia.
“Sector resilience in the first quarter was supported by ongoing trading density and base rental growth,” said Belinda Clur. Growth shifts across formats and provinces were significant.
The Q1 2026 national Clur Index for All Centres closed at an annualised trading density of R43,340/sqm, and y/y% growth of 5.2%, outperforming Mar 2026’s CPI by 2.1 percentage points.
There were differing views on trading density growth across the three key provinces, with Gauteng overtaking the Western Cape to take the top spot at 5.6% y/y.
The Western Cape was at 5.2% and KZN at 4.4% y/y growth. Provincial trading density volumes continued to show Western Cape dominance.
That said, provincial trading density volumes continued to show Western Cape dominance at R50,262/sqm. KZN followed at R45,278/sqm, and Gauteng delivered R41,842 /sqm.
Top base rent/sqm growth came from KZN at 7.1%, off R257.01/sqm. The highest base rent/sqm was in the Western Cape, at R269.76 after 5.1% growth. Gauteng was at R245.72/sqm and 5.4% y/y.
The data broadly reflect qualitative factors over South Africa’s shopping landscape, with more property funds prioritising moves in the Western Cape.
For instance, Hyprop, the owner of Canal Walk and Rosebank, is prioritising the Western Cape due to better municipal infrastructure and higher consumer spending than other provinces.
Growthpoint Properties, a co-owner of the V&A Waterfront, has also moved its development capital to the Western Cape. Spear REIT notably only operates in the Western Cape.
Bigger is better
“Marking a clear trend shift, the highest y/y% growth was shown by super-regional centres at 5.6%,” said Clur. Super-regional centres are the largest in South Africa, with GLA of over 100,000 sqm.
February 2026 marked the first time since November 2024 that these centres have outperformed the growth rate of community and smaller centres.
“Regional centres followed at 5.4%, having seen an ongoing marked growth improvement since April 2025 and drastically improving their placement in the ranks since their low of 2.1% in September 2024.”
“Community and smaller centres came in at 4.9% y/y growth, having contracted by 0.5% against December 2025.”
Super-regional centres showed the highest growth expansion against December 2025 of 0.7%, followed by small regional centres at 0.2%.”
Actual trading density volumes continued to be driven by the combination of very large and very small centres.
Top performance came from super-regional areas at R53,225/sqm, with community and smaller centres seeing R49,131/sqm.
The MD added that the rental position remained steady, with the Q1 2026 index for All Centres closing at a base rent-to-sales level of 6.6%.
This has remained unchanged since mid-2024, when the market returned to normalcy following Covid-induced volatility.
Clur added that all centre types and key provinces saw inflation-beating rental y/y growth in March 2026. The index for All Centres closed at a base rent per sqm of R246.21.
This represented year-on-year growth of 5.5%, outperforming the March 2026 CPI of 3.1% by 2.4 percentage points.
Super-regional centres recorded the highest base rental levels at R333.88/sqm, with y/y growth of 5.9%, exceeding March 2026 CPI by 2.8 percentage points.
Regionals came in at R239.87, up 4.9% y/y and outpacing CPI by 1.8 percentage points. Small regional centres recorded the second-highest y/y% growth in base rent/sqm at 5.7%, achieving R195.21/sqm.
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