Finally Sandton CBD is Becoming a Comfortable 'Neighbourhood to Live in!
Category Blog
One of the stand-out features of what is now Africa's tallest building - the R3-billion Leonardo - is that it reportedly brings into the Sandton CBD a much-needed residential component of 240 units.
Still to come within the same precinct - but some way down the line - will be another major development that is likely to include a significant residential element.
These, and other, mixed-use developments still in the pipeline will go a long way to alleviating the long-standing effects of what subsequently turned out to be a somewhat flawed start to the Sandton CBD rollout.
The "Square Mile"
In the early new millennial period from 2000 to 2006, there were at least 16 'billion rand' feasibility studies, each on a scale close to that of the Leonardo, on the development of spectacular new residential property projects, not unlike within what is today Sandton's so-called "Square Mile".
Unfortunately, they were all subsequently binned and replaced with commercial property developments which, at that time, were a far more stable and safer investment option in the then-prevailing bubble fearing economic climate.
Not least so because annual growth in residential property values was then in a range of 15% to 30% per cent, which was seemingly unsustainable, and, therefore, perceived by property developers as a bubble simply waiting to burst.
New Development
But times have changed - to the extent that there has been a lot more new residential-inclusive property development in, and on the fringes of the Sandton Square Mile.
The Leonardo is clearly a prime example.
This bodes well for the establishment of a Rosebank-like, mixed-use, environment in a Sandton precinct that has generally not been perceived as a user-friendly home address.
What the residential property sector needs right now is a build-up of confidence in the economy. When that happens, the money that has been stored up by wait-and-see, would-be, buyers will start to flow back into the homes market.
Once the city is more widely perceived to be a comfortable environment in which to live, work and play, more development will roll out on a more balanced scale.
A Depressed Environment
Meanwhile, it is seemingly bizarre that so much commercial - and, indeed residential - property development has been happening in Sandton and Rosebank in what has clearly been, and remains, an economically depressed environment.
We all know that property developments are conceived and planned years ahead of the first sod turn - in the expectation that they will come to fruition in a healthy environment.
Sometimes it takes a little longer than expected.
Right now, the residential vacancy rate in Sandton and Rosebank may well be at its highest in decades. Therefore, a massive amount of unoccupied residential property will need to be mopped up before market sentiment can truly perk up.
Author: Ronald Ennik
