{"id":838133,"date":"2025-09-22T14:57:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=838133"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:01:12","slug":"businesses-looking-for-new-home-as-they-flee-service-failures-in-gauteng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/838133\/businesses-looking-for-new-home-as-they-flee-service-failures-in-gauteng\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses looking for new home as they flee service failures in Gauteng"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Major commercial property owners are moving their money to cities where services are reliable, with the Western Cape attracting the most attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng, especially Johannesburg, is struggling as water, power, and failing local government systems are becoming growing concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communities like Coronationville and Westbury have been protesting for weeks over the lack of water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even wealthy suburbs are facing taps that run dry for long periods. For property owners, this has forced tough choices about where to invest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyprop Investments, South Africa\u2019s largest listed shopping centre property company, is shifting more into the Western Cape. Chief executive Morn\u00e9 Wilken said<\/a> the difference in governance has become clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been seeing much better progress in the Western Cape. The infrastructure is much better looked after. In terms of value, we are actually bigger in the Western Cape than in Gauteng,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyprop owns well-known malls such as Canal Walk, Somerset Mall, and Cape Gate. It recently bought Table Bay Mall in Cape Town and described it as a smart buy in a fast-growing residential area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw a huge opportunity because it was quite a new mall, the demographics were very strong, and where the rentals were, we saw a lot of growth to come,\u201d Wilken explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenant turnovers at the centre grew 10% in the past year, and Hyprop now plans expansions at Somerset Mall, Cape Gate, and Table Bay Mall to meet demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gauteng, the picture is very different. Hyprop has had to step in to cover for failed municipal services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, what we had to do in Gauteng was actually backup water supply. Obviously, solar has been driving quite a lot, but it\u2019s all beneficial to our tenants and the shoppers coming to the centres,\u201d Wilken said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also pays to repair roads, fill potholes, and improve security. These costs are incurred on top of high municipal rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just costs you much more. Over and above that, you still have a high cost of rates that you have to pay. But it is what it is, you need to adapt or leave, so we\u2019re adapting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Cape’s growth in 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hyprop is also reshaping its Gauteng portfolio, selling Hyde Park Corner while keeping Rosebank Mall, which is performing well since offices reopened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, its biggest growth bets remain in the Western Cape. \u201cWe want to make sure our malls are relevant and actually attract customers, and the Western Cape is where we\u2019re seeing the strongest opportunities to do just that,\u201d Wilken said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growthpoint Properties, the country\u2019s biggest property group, is also cutting back<\/a> in weak areas. It has been selling office and retail space in what it called \u201cdeteriorating nodes\u201d and CBDs while focusing its spending in stronger regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2017, it has sold 40 office buildings worth R5.5 billion and 29 retail centres worth R3.9 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025 alone, it sold R1.4 billion in office and retail properties. At the same time, Growthpoint is also investing heavily in the Western Cape, spending R1.6 billion on projects, including R161.4 million to redevelop Bayside Mall in Table View.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent property data supports this emerging trend. Lightstone noted that the Western Cape accounts for nearly 31% of all property transaction value in South Africa, even though its GDP is less than half that of Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province also tops national governance rankings and has steady growth across farming, finance, business services, and real estate. This means investors are putting their money where services are reliable and growth is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means the Western Cape, where companies like Hyprop and Growthpoint are building while steadily withdrawing from places that can no longer guarantee basic services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major commercial property owners are moving their money to cities where services are reliable, with the Western Cape attracting the most attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":797450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[1652,853,3024],"class_list":["post-838133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-gauteng","tag-south-africa","tag-western-cape"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838133"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838160,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838133\/revisions\/838160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}