South Africa’s biggest property group, Growthpoint Properties, announced yesterday that the V&A Waterfront, which it co-owns with the Government Employee Pension Fund, has recorded an ‘outstanding performance’ in the six months ending 31 December 2023.
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In its financial results for HY24, Growthpoint said that while its key performance indicators improved across all three of its South African sectors (retail, office and industrial), the V&A stood out with an impressive 17.2% increase in net property income.
Domestically, Growthpoint owns and manages a diverse core portfolio of 352 retail, office and industrial properties across the country.
According to the property group, the ‘outstanding performance’ was driven mainly by a 109% increase in turnover rental and fuelled by increased tourism and the positive knock-on impact this has on retail, hotels and attractions.
December 2023 saw a record number of 3 million holiday season visitors, which is 25% up from December 2022. The V&A recorded 25 million visits in 2023, as well as record high retail sales of R1.2 billion (16% higher than the previous year) in December 2023.
‘These numbers reflect the success of the strategy of guaranteeing that all retail, restaurants and hotels can trade normally during loadshedding,’ Growthpoint added in its results.
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In terms of rentals, Growthpoint reported that these had exceeded the MSCI super-regional shopping centre benchmark, adding that, with a 0.4% vacancy, demand for prime space is buoyant.
‘The first TimeOut Market in Africa is trading exceptionally well after opening at the V&A in November 2023,’ said the property group. ‘This month also saw the refurbished helistop opening, with trading up 122% in November and 138% in December.’
‘Even with the Cape Grace closed for conversion by Fairmont from May to December 2023 and both the City Lodge and the One & Only hotels undergoing refurbishment, net property income from the V&A hotels increased an exceptional 45% in HY24 compared to HY23,’ the group added.
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Additionally, with a noticeable increase in staff returning to their offices, demand for V&A offices is strong and vacancies stand at a minuscule 0.1%.
Lastly, the Cape Town Cruise Terminal is expecting to welcome 60 cruise ships during the current season (October 2023 to May 2024). The V&A also saw a 22% increase in charter boat businesses during the period, while casual berthing remained robust and the marina was fully occupied in November and December 2023.
‘This is a stellar performance from the V&A, which expects to deliver high single-digit income growth for FY24,’ says Group CEO of Gwowthpoint Properties Norbert Sasse.
As per Business Tech, total revenue across the group increased by 4.0% from R6.8 billion in HY23 to R7.1 billion in HY24.
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