SA’s property market struggles

SOUTH Africa’s office, industrial and retail property brokers perceive market activity to have declined in the fourth quarter of 2019, a survey showed yesterday.
The percentage of respondents who believe market conditions to have been satisfactory in FNB’s Fourth Quarter Commercial Property Broker Survey fell for the 3rd consecutive quarter, from 49 percent in the third quarter, to 31 percent in the fourth quarter.
When brokers were asked for their ratings of market activity levels, they were the most upbeat about the industrial and warehouse market.
The industrial property market, nevertheless, still had a weak reading of -12.
The office sector index reading was a negative of -36, implying that the percentage of respondents perceiving a decrease in activity in this sector exceeded those perceiving an increase by 36 percentage points.
The retail market returned the weakest reading, a negative -52. — IOL