The total value of property development in the Cape Town CBD exceeded R12.8 billion in 2025/26, some 41% more than the R9 billion recorded in 2024.
This meant that investor confidence in South Africa’s official seat of parliament skyrocketed, according to the main findings of the latest edition of the State of Cape Town Central City Report 2025-A Year in Review (SCCR), published annually by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID).
The inner-city economy is also said to have benefited from the stable performance of its key economic sectors, including BPO, business and leisure tourism, and the rise of the creative economy.
“It’s astonishing to see development of this magnitude but the real story is that these numbers not only reflect, but also inspire, investor confidence. And, more importantly, what happens when confidence becomes concentrated in one place,” says Rob Kane, the CCID Board chairperson and CEO of Boxwood Property Fund.
International and Gauteng developers keen to CBD’s
The chairperson also notes that the increase in international and Gauteng developers keen to be part of the Cape Town CBD’s success story.
The Central City is said to have remained a business-friendly environment experiencing solid growth. Business confidence remained high throughout 2025, with retail performing strongly. The non-retail sector was dominated by the legal, medical and finance sectors.
The residential property market experienced a boom with the median price of sectional title units sold in the CBD increasing by 5.4 % to R1.92m.
Comprehensive research in the 14th edition reflects a CBD economy in fine fettle, building on strengths achieved in 2024. The CCID’s flagship publication, the report focuses on the organisation’s 1.74 km² geographical footprint in the Central City, the country’s most economically sound urban hub.
The 84-page report was released to prominent Cape Town business and property leaders on Wednesday. Its research is described as a valuable tool for investors, developers and business and property owners seeking to invest in South Africa’s most business-friendly city centre.
Property developments
The extraordinary property investment results show 29 developments in the pipeline in 2025/26: eight were completed (worth more than R1.9 bn); 14 were under construction (worth more than R5.4 bn); five were in the planning phase (worth R5.4 bn) and two were proposed, with values to be confirmed.
The overall official value of all property in the CBD is R42.6 bn, according to the City of Cape Town’s 2022 property evaluation.
Affordable housing to feature strongly
More than half of the builds in the pipeline are residential properties valued at R6.2 bn. Affordable housing also features strongly, with the Western Cape government paving the way to put two developments on the map-conservatively estimated at R2.9 bn-and the City of Cape Town releasing civic land for a future affordable housing residential complex.
Impressive, dramatic new additions to the skyline are coming in the form of four mixed-use builds (which also include apartments) valued at R3.8 bn.
One of the most newsworthy is the R1.2 bn project to convert the landmark CBD Golden Acre office tower in Adderley Street into a residential and retail development with 450 apartments.
The other jewel in the mixed-use crown is City Park, the R1.3 bn redevelopment of the former Christiaan Barnard Hospital in Bree Street. Key to this build is the inclusion of Africa’s first Mama Shelter Hotel.
The international brand, set to open in the spring, will also have residences in the stunning building daringly reimagined by dhk Architects. Then, at the bottom of Bree Street is another luxury hotel offering, namely the R1.1 bn One on Bree, which will add +500 rooms to the CBD hotel pool and over 279 residences.
Inner city economy is booming
Strong investor confidence in the CBD is the result of 26 years of consistent effort by the CCID to create and maintain a safe, clean, more attractive city centre, says Kane.
“Executive Mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis has also played an important role in driving confidence and helping to create an environment where investment can flourish.”
At least 12 of the 21 retail and non-retail entities that do business in the Cape Town CBD grew in 2025, with the overall number totalling 3 547. The top two non-retail sectors, namely the legal and medical professions, both expanded in 2025.
Other sectors experiencing growth were finance, investment & insurance; ICT, BPO & telecoms; accommodation; architecture; and property & real estate.
One of the key business sectors, namely retail – which makes up 1 495 of the 3 547 businesses operating in 2025-once again increased its footprint, with 172 new retail outlets opening their doors.
According to the CCID’s Business Confidence Index, in the final quarter of 2025, 98 % of retailers surveyed reported favourable business conditions-a significant increase on the 92 % recorded in 2024.
According to the State of Cape Town Central City Report 2025, high occupancy rates characterised retail with the sector maintaining a stable 88 % occupancy rate at the end of the year across the CCID’s four precincts.
Of the 1 704 retail units available, 1 495 were occupied and actively trading with vacant units at 12.3 %.
Other key findings in the SCCR include:
•The office vacancy rate in the Cape Town metropole (the city as a whole) at the end of 2025 was 6.1 %, increasing to 6.2 % in Q2 2026. This is the lowest office vacancy rate in South Africa.
•The Cape Town CBD office rate was 10 % at the end of Q4 2025, increasing to 11.9 % in Q2 2026.
Asking rentals in the Cape Town CBD for Premium grade office space are the most competitively priced in the city.
•The CBD still has the largest share (39 %) of the total office space in the city of Cape Town, as measured by the SA Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA).
Unique features of the report include:
A property investment map detailing the 29 locations of completed developments, current construction sites as well as those of planned and proposed projects;
An overview of the standout economic sectors in 2025:
A report on the visitor economy and hotel occupancy rates in 2025, as well as the increasing contribution of the creative sector to the Central City’s day- and night-time economies;
The challenges and opportunities facing global cities and CBDs;
A deep dive into the results of the CCID’s quarterly Business Confidence Index, which tracks confidence levels of business owners across the CCID’s four precincts in the CBD.
A section on how the four precincts that make up the CCID’s 1.74 km² geographic footprint fared in 2025 with respect to business, property, economic and living trends.
Cape Town has a smaller population and a smaller economy than Johannesburg, says Pieter Janse van Rensburg MD at Times Sauared Marketing Pty Ltd.
He says that on paper, Gauteng should win. In practice, the Western Cape keeps beating it, by a growing margin, year after year. Here is why, in numbers.
He says using January 2010 as a base of 100, the City of Cape Town’s house price index now sits at 272.5. The Western Cape as a whole is at 279.6. That means the average property in the province is worth almost 2.8 times what it was sixteen years ago, according to economist John Loos.
Compare that to the rest of the country, Western Cape house prices rose 179.6 percent between January 2010 and September 2025. Gauteng managed 79.7 percent. KwaZulu-Natal, 76.7 percent. The Western Cape has more than doubled its nearest rivals.
The Western Cape records the shortest selling times in South Africa. A correctly priced Cape Town home now takes around 70 days to sell, down from 80 in late 2023. Johannesburg is closer to 100.
Well-priced homes are said to be receiving multiple offers and selling swiftly, often at or above asking price. Power has shifted firmly to sellers.
About 63 percent of houses sold recently achieved 90 percent or more of their listed price. The average sale closes at 94 percent of asking. Overpriced homes still sit. Correctly priced ones do not.
