{"id":867730,"date":"2026-08-02T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867730"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:07:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:07:21","slug":"the-most-expensive-province-for-shopping-malls-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/867730\/the-most-expensive-province-for-shopping-malls-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The most expensive province for shopping malls in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shopping malls in the Western Cape have the highest earnings of any other province, but also have some of the highest rental costs for tenants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is one of the largest malls in the area and draws 24 million visitors every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall charges an estimated R400-R600 per square metre to potential tenants, according to Occupi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The high rent is due to strong demand for retail space in the mall, which has an occupancy rate of approximately 99.7%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall performs particularly well due to support from Cape Town\u2019s tourism industry, creating seasonal boosts for stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its high rental costs, the mall has a strong earning potential, with the Clur Index<\/a> noting that Western Cape malls have the highest earnings of any other province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trading density in the province was approximately R50,000 per square metre in the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents a 5.2% increase from the previous quarter and is roughly R5,000 higher than KwaZulu-Natal’s trading density, the second-highest-performing province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malls in KZN offer strong potential earnings for stores, as rental prices are often lower than in other provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cornubia Mall in Durban offers retail space at approximately R250-R350 per square metre, significantly lower than at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall also sees less foot traffic than other areas, with approximately 6 million visitors every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Clur Index found that retail space in KZN has a trading density of roughly R45,000 per square metre, benefitting from the slightly lower rental costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lower rent in Durban’s malls is in line with the property costs in both areas, as Cape Town’s property market has significantly higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the high costs, the Western Cape still outperforms other provinces due to the revenue generated by tourists and wealthy locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malls in Gauteng<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Malls in Gauteng also performed well in the first quarter of 2026, with the province having an average trading density of R41,800 per square metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area also has some of South Africa\u2019s largest malls, including the Fourways Mall in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mall had an average rental price of approximately R262 per square metre in 2023, which would equate to approximately R280 per square metre in 2026 after inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fourways Mall faced challenges in the past, after its rental costs dropped between 2020 and 2023, as demand for its retail space declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the mall owners, Accelerate Property Fund, put a plan into place to address the decline in demand, with results beginning to show in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall has roughly 20 million visitors annually, benefiting from Gauteng\u2019s large population and its impressive number of stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Menlyn Mall, also in Gauteng, has rental costs similar to Fourways Mall, with estimated prices ranging from R170 to R200 per square metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the largest mall in Pretoria, and boasts an average annual foot traffic of roughly 19 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rental prices for South Africa\u2019s malls reflect the inflation rates of different areas, particularly in property markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Cape has consistently seen property costs rise at a much faster rate than in other provinces, with Cape Town as a driving force behind this change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property costs in the city have increased by 141% since 2010, outpacing the national average of 98% over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising property costs have also driven up the cost of goods in the area, as retail outlets have to charge higher prices to cover their rental costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gauteng and KZN, mall rental costs are similar, but KZN does enjoy slightly higher trading density, according to the Clur Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trading density of South Africa’s top-performing provinces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Province<\/strong><\/td>Trading density (first quarter 2026)<\/strong><\/td>Growth % since 2025<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Western Cape<\/td>R50,262<\/td>5.2%<\/td><\/tr>
KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>R45,278<\/td>4.4%<\/td><\/tr>
Gauteng<\/td>R41,842<\/td>5.6%<\/td><\/tr>
Average<\/td>R43,340<\/td>5.2%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
(Source: Clur Index)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malls in one area have the highest earnings of any other province, but also have some of the highest rental costs for tenants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":850214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2083885788089991450","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2164478337705899","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[2279,25945,25943,19746,25944,25942],"class_list":["post-867730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-cape-town","tag-clur-index","tag-cornubia-mall","tag-fourways-mall","tag-menlyn-mall","tag-va-waterfront-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867730","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867730"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867753,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867730\/revisions\/867753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}