Shifting trends: 19.3 per cent of office properties now being converted to residential and mixed-use developments

A notable 19.3% of office property purchases are intended for conversion to residential or mixed-use developments, according to brokers' estimates.

Residential conversions are playing a critical role, especially in Johannesburg, says John Loos, the senior property economist for Commercial Property Finance at FNB.

In the first quarter of this year, the FNB Property Broker Survey included a new question on the main reasons for buying office property. The options provided were company purchase for own office use, investment to lease as office space, conversion to residential or mixed use and others.

He said aggregated responses from the first and second quarters provided revealing insights.

“Nationally, 43% of buyers were purchasing for their own use, while 36.4% were investors. A noteworthy 19.3% were acquiring office properties with the intention of converting them to residential or mixed-use, an important mechanism for absorbing excess office space is unlikely to be needed in the future, Loos said. 

Regionally, he said Johannesburg shows the highest conversion intent, with 38.1% of office property purchases estimated to be for repurposing. Nelson Mandela Bay was at 17.1% and Tshwane (14.9%) followed, while Cape Town (4.6%) and eThekwini (1.3%) showed minimal conversion activity.

These figures likely reflect healthier market fundamentals and lower vacancy rates in the coastal metros, Loos said. 

He said that, however, this also means that in cities like Cape Town, opportunities to address housing shortages by repurposing underused office space are limited-particularly in high-demand areas such as the City Bowl.

Loos said many of the challenges facing the office property market in recent years have been well-documented.

He said when Covid-19 lockdowns began in 2020, there was a surge in remote and hybrid working, sparking debate around the future need for office space. He added that some companies reduced their office footprints to accommodate greater levels of remote work.

“While much of the initial hype around working from home (WFH) was overblown, many employees eventually returned to the office-though not in the same numbers as before the pandemic. Long before Covid-19, however, advances in technology had already enabled more flexible work arrangements.

"These trends are expected to continue gradually in the post-pandemic 'new normal',” Loos said. 

Additionally, the senior property economist said productivity improvements driven by technology have allowed office-dependent sectors to grow without proportionally increasing their workforce numbers, curbing long-term demand for office space.

At the same time, he said digitisation has reduced the need for physical document storage, further lowering space requirements.

The financial institution’s commercial property finance unit said South Africa’s sluggish economic growth since the early 2010s has also played a role, limiting formal employment growth and, by extension, the demand for office space.

“Unsurprisingly, these factors led to a sharp rise in the national office vacancy rate-from a post-GFC low of 9.2% in 2014 (MSCI data) to a peak of 18.2% in 2021/22, shortly after the hard lockdowns.” 

Since 2021/22, Loos said there have been encouraging signs of declining oversupply, particularly in the major coastal cities, with the national office vacancy rate declining to 15.8% in 2024-still high, but a notable improvement.

“Rode data paints a similar picture, with national average A+, A, and B-grade office vacancy rates dropping from nearly 18% in the first half of 2022 to 12.8% in Q1 2025. Although this remains above the long-term average of 9.5%, the trend is positive.” Loos said.

He said that, however, Rode data also reveals a regional divergence with Cape Town and Durban’s decentralised markets showing vacancy rates just above 8%, possibly supported by a growing demand for call centre space.

In contrast, Gauteng is said to remain under pressure, with this year’s first quarter vacancy rates of 14.1% in Johannesburg and 13.4% in Pretoria.

With regards to investment sentiment, 57% of brokers in this year’s second quarter FNB Property Broker Survey believe that office property supply still exceeds demand. However, this is down significantly from the record high of 98.4% in the second quarter of 2021.

New was said to have significantly slowed down the key factor in reducing oversupply, being the dramatic decline in new office space development. In 2024, only 82,942 square metres of office space were completed, an 86% drop from 2019 levels and a 90% decrease from the 2013 peak.

The affordability improvements were said to support recovery with real (inflation-adjusted) office rentals declining by 16.5% from the 2020 peak to 2024, while real capital values per square metre have dropped by 25.9% since the 2016 high (MSCI data adjusted for GDP inflation). 

For both tenants and investors, office space has become more affordable, another factor helping to reduce oversupply.

In conclusion, Loos said the office property market is gradually “right-sizing” amid structural shifts in demand.

“While reduced new developments and improved affordability have played important roles, residential and mixed-use conversions-particularly in Johannesburg-are emerging as a key solution to the sector’s oversupply.

"The future of the office market lies in its ability to adapt to long-term changes in work patterns, economic conditions, and urban development needs.”

Delivering the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) Budget Vote on Wednesday, Minister Thembi Simelane said they recognised the repurposing of well-located government-owned buildings as a critical strategy to expand affordable rental housing in urban cores and support spatial transformation.

She said that, accordingly, through the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), they will drive inner-city revitalisation by identifying and converting underutilised buildings into social housing, particularly those released by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and the Housing Development Agency (HDA).

“The DPWI has already released over 2 700 hectares of land. An additional 1 000 hectares will be unlocked this year. At least four State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) buildings are in the pipeline for release, thus unlocking space for high-density, affordable living in our cities,” Simelane said.

The DHS minister added that they will also prioritise innovation through piloting green Innovative Building Technology (IBT) projects and integrating spatial data to align with the District Development Model (DDM).

"Together, these actions aim to promote liveable, sustainable, and economically inclusive neighbourhoods," she added. 

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