Cape Town on bounceback trail

Cape Town is on many a traveller’s bucket list, with its iconic attractions such as Table Mountain and blue-flag beaches – and proved an excellent investment destination in 2019.

According to the 2019 State of Cape Town Central City Report (SCCR), the year “proved to be dynamic, resilient and ever-expanding, driving investment into what is arguably the most successful city centre in South Africa”.

Since the inception of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District by local property owners in 2000, board chair Rob Kane says the body has sought to keep the city crime-free, clean and open for business.

Kane says the central city held its own, despite 2019 being an incredibly difficult year: “Stakeholders and investors in the CBD have had to cope with the aftermath of the 2018 drought and subsequent water crisis, ongoing load shedding and a tough economic climate.”

Developments

The central business district did well in 2019, with the total value of property investments in the proposed, planned, under-construction or completed phases at R13.83 billion, with the Foreshore precinct emerging as a key property investment node.

The report attributes this in part to the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which it said contributed R4.5 billion to the Western Cape’s gross geographic product.

The report puts the 2018/2019 value of central city property at more than R44 billion.

Projects completed in 2019 include the Signature Lux Hotel in Heerengracht Street, the Capetonian Hotel on Heerengracht Street, and The Halyard on Christiaan Barnard Street. Planned developments include the Telkom Exchange Foreshore on Lower Long Street, The Vogue on Buitengracht Street, 27 Lower Long Street and Beaufort House on Jack Craig Street.

There are seven other developments currently under construction.

This is a significant improvement from a few years ago. The SCCR reveals that the value of property in the city centre soared by nearly 40%, from R30.6 billion in 2016/2017 to R42.8 billion in 2018/2019, with 39 new developments worth over R13.5 billion in the pipeline.

However, 2020 is a year unlike any other – the Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented devastation globally. It remains to be seen how the city’s economy will fare.

In his write-up in the report, Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato is confident that the city’s residents will “bounce back”, while Western Cape Premier Alan Winde called the city the “responsive engine room of the economy”.

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