Work-from-home trend is killing Cape Town CBD property market, says rental agent

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• The demand for short-term rental space in the city bowl has dropped drastically

• Real estate agent Grant Rea says some tenants aren’t sure if they want to live in the city centre anymore as more and more businesses become vacant due to Covid-19

• This has led to a decline in property sales values and property rental values

• He says the rise of remote working has completely changed the face of real estate in the CBD

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Cape Town-based real estate agent Grant Rea says the work-from-home (WFH) trend has had a major impact on property in the city centre.

He says WFH has led to a drastic drop in demand for short-term rental space coupled with an increasing number of vacant retail and commercial spaces because of Covid-19 business closures.

While the appeal of living in the CBD has declined, Rea says Cape Town’s property sector is resilient and will recover in the coming years with exciting new developments in the pipeline.

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Many businesses have decided that the need for an office has almost become redundant in many cases.

Grant Rea, Residential sales and rental specialist – RE/MAX Living

The need to be in the CBD and close to your triple A-grade office space has almost fallen away.

Grant Rea, Residential sales and rental specialist – RE/MAX Living

The next question is: what do we do with a whole lot of empty office spaces? We can’t turn them all into co-work spaces and we can’t turn them all into neighbourhood markets.

Grant Rea, Residential sales and rental specialist – RE/MAX Living

There’s going to be a huge amount of creativity needed by developers to use all this space which is now going to be empty.

Grant Rea, Residential sales and rental specialist – RE/MAX Living