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Sandton’s property investment proposition is broadening beyond its traditional office market as investors increasingly assess opportunities where industrial, residential, retail and hospitality demand converge.
The shift comes as the office market recovers from prolonged oversupply, although the recovery remains uneven. Decentralised areas are outperforming the central business district, strengthening the case for investors to look beyond conventional office assets.
Office vacancies stood at 15.5% in the first quarter of 2026, down from a peak of 21.2% in 2022, according to the SA Property Owners Association (Sapoa).
Galetti Corporate Real Estate director Justin Thom said the recovery in vacancies formed part of a broader restructuring of Sandton’s property market.
“Currently, the decentralised office market is outperforming the CBD with vacancies of 11.5%,” Thom said.
The performance is drawing investors towards properties in Sandton’s decentralised precincts, including Wynberg, Kramerville and Marlboro, where office demand intersects with industrial, logistics, residential, retail and hospitality activity.
“The Sandton story is becoming less about a single asset class and more about the strength of the ecosystem around the node,” Thom said.
“As the market evolves, investors are looking at where people live, where businesses operate, where goods move and where consumers spend — and how those uses interact with one another.”
The shift marks a departure from Sandton’s earlier investment cycle, when office property dominated the market.
Gmaven, a South African commercial property data and analytics outfit, recently pointed out that Sandton remains one of Johannesburg’s strongest property nodes, yet even prime assets there are being priced at a significant discount to replacement cost.
This comes as commercial property across the City of Johannesburg municipality trades at an estimated R196bn discount to comparable Cape Town-adjusted values.
Thom said 2015 was arguably the peak of commercial property performance, when demand was strong and quality office space was scarce.
“Vacancies were hard to come by, yields were high and the market was generally booming,” he said.
Oversupply of premium office space subsequently weakened demand, while the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated changes in workplace patterns.
“In the lead-up to the pandemic, however, the office market started feeling the pressure. Oversupply of premium office space pushed vacancy rates higher and prices lower,” Thom said.
The resulting market correction has increased the focus on mixed-use properties and assets capable of drawing income from multiple sources.
“An asset with exposure to several established demand drivers can provide a different risk profile from one that is entirely dependent on a single occupier or sector,” Thom said.
Sandton View, a 46,802m² mixed-use estate in Wynberg, illustrates this broader investment trend. The estate comprises industrial, retail, residential and hospitality components, providing exposure to different segments of the property market.
Thom said flexibility would become increasingly important as investors navigated changing property cycles.
“Future-proofing an investment is about more than predicting exactly what the market will look like in five or 10 years,” he said. “It is about having an asset that is positioned to adapt as demand changes. A property with multiple established uses, strong accessibility and development or repositioning potential gives an investor more options.”
Offices will remain an important part of Sandton’s property market, but their prospects needed to be considered within the wider ecosystem supporting the node, Thom said.
Business Day