Two experienced commercial property brokers in KwaZulu-Natal, Sheldon Johnsen and Jacques Nagel, have been given the go-ahead by the Rawson Property Group to establish a new commercial franchise in Durban South.
In Jacobs, the rental of industrial space is pitched between R38 per square metre and R45 per square metre, and premises of this kind are sold at R4 000 to R4 500 per square metre.The area which Johnsen and Nagel are serving runs roughly 10 kilometres from Maydon Wharf to Prospecton, and it includes Jacobs, Mobeni, Congella and Isipingo, the high demand area in which many KZN industrialists are now trying to find space.
Nagel says Jacobs’ popularity stems from about the year 2000, when it was given a Zone One rating by shipping and container delivery companies. This means that it is now significantly less expensive to deliver containers to Jacobs, which is only 7 kilometres from the harbour, than it is to deliver to the newer, smarter industrial areas north of Durban, such as Springfield and Riverhorse Valley, which have a Zone Three rating.
Furthermore, because of the high standard of the premises in this Zone Three area, rentals are higher than they are in Jacobs. Mobeni and Prospecton, Zone Two areas which are also served by this Rawson Commercial team, are also significantly less expensive to service than the properties to the north.
In recent years, the increase of new buyers and tenants in Jacobs has seen premises and rents in the area rising at roughly 10 percent per annum, says Nagel.
It has also caused owners to upgrade their premises which, before 2000, were often regarded as out of date and inconvenient.
Nagel says today in Jacobs, the rental of industrial space is pitched between R38 per square metre and R45 per square metre, and premises of this kind are sold at R4 000 to R4 500 per square metre. As recent as 2012 the average sale price was R3 500 per square metre.
Nagel and Johnsen believe they will continue to be able to achieve an average of five signed leases and one or two sales per month.
Nagel foresees the franchise’s turnover rising at 20 percent per annum for the next few years.
“We are in the right place at the right time, although stock is in short supply, as soon as it does become available, it is snapped up,” he says.
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