Who would have guessed this? Either way, this is rad: over the past decade, Jozi’s commercial property values have outperformed those of London and New York, despite global economic uncertainties, and SA’s sluggish growth.

Speaking of the revelation, Norbert Sasse – CEO of SA’s largest property group, Growthpoint – said because South Africa and its listed property sector had not experienced a financial crisis as its US and European counterparts had, it was sheltered from the global property crash.

The outstanding growth was also linked to limited foreign ownership and conservative valuations.

Business Day crunched the numbers:

According to the Investment Property Databank Global Cities Report, released yesterday, capital value appreciation in Johannesburg hit 7,5% over the 10 years to last year, compared to 3,6% for New York, 2,2% for London and -0,1% for Munich over the same period.

Sasse had more:

South African listed property fared better than other global market because we never experienced liquidity shortages. The local listed property sector continued to have access to funding and our properties have always been conservatively valued said.

Over a five-year period, Vancouver (2,5%) has seen the strongest capital value growth, with Johannesburg and Cape Town coming second and third.

Another property developer, Andrew Teixeira, a director of Capital Property Fund — one of the JSE’s top-performing property stocks — agreed with the report.

He said the rapidly growing nodes of Johannesburg like Sandton and Rosebank had experienced capital value increases because of demand for A-grade space around Gautrain stations.

I think capital rates are higher in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, which is as a result of low vacancies, rental growth and demand for space especially in well located nodes such as the Sandton central business district.

He continued that there were many proposals for A-grade offices around the Sandton Gautrain station, and this would substantiate further demand in the future.

The Global Cities Report said growing investor appetite for rental income has seen Jozi outperform every global city outside South Africa over the past decade.

Further to this, the commodity-driven cities of Australia, Canada and South Africa have benefited from the strong fundamental demand for real estate in these markets.

Nice vibe Jozi.