THE Port Elizabeth industrial property market recorded zero rental growth in the second quarter of the financial year, compared with the central Witwatersrand (up 9%), Cape Peninsula (up 4%), and Durban (–1%).

The latest Rode’s Report on the SA Property Market states that while the estate agents’ PR machine has started talking about “green shoots appearing, the facts reveal that the brakes – in terms of the growth in market rentals – are being applied more firmly now”.

On the office front, it states that while some central business district nodes are still recording fairly good growth in rentals, “the underlying trend seems to be one of deceleration”, with growth in certain decentralised nodes, among them Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, having “cooled to single digits”.

Rode says flat rentals are clearly also heading sideways, showing dull growth especially when compared with consumer inflation. The best performance in the second quarter was in Durban, at roughly 7% over the past year, compared with consumer prices that have grown by roughly 8%. “It is obvious that real flat rental growth has contracted across the board in all metropoles,” Rode said.

The report reveals that house prices have dropped by 3% on August a year ago. “There is, however, a glimmer of hope on the horizon, as on a month-on-month basis, house prices have been up by 0,2%, translating into an annualised rate of about +2,3%.”