Redefine to provided additional 46 mln rand in rent
discounts Redefine now poised for expansion after disposals
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Two of South Africa s prime
commercial property owners will extend rental relief to
struggling tenants this year, in a sign the impact of COVID-19
is far from over for hard-hit real estate firms although they
see the tide turning at the end of 2021.
Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) and Redefine Properties
- owners of some prominent commercial real estate in
Johannesburg and Cape Town - said they would have to provide
rental relief for longer.
South African commercial real estate sector - with its
South Africa's Liberty Two Degrees, which owns malls in prime locations of Johannesburg and Cape Town, said on Monday its full year profit more than halved due to lower rental income and the temporary closure of shops and hotels due to COVID-19.
Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) has posted a big decline in 2020 earnings, but says shoppers are returning to its malls across South Africa after they were left empty during the hard lockdown last April. And while numbers were still down on 2019, the landlord says customers spent more when they visited.
While conventional wisdom was that smaller, local shopping centres were faring better because of Covid-19 restrictions and customers shopping closer to home, footfall at L2D’s centres picked up towards the end of the year, with Sandton City back at 72% of December 2019’s levels and Nelson Mandela Square at 62%.