How do rents for commercial property space in the rest of Africa compare to rates in South Africa?
Rents are far higher in Africa. All rates are quoted in US dollars although not necessarily paid in US dollars. As an example, rental of an A grade office in Dar es Salaam would cost approximately USD1618 p/m2/month. Operating costs add another USD3 p/m2/month to this, bringing the total to USD20 p/m2/month. This is equivalent to approximately R200 p/m2/month. The most expensive space in the Sandton CBD (Johannesburg) is approximately R100 p/m2/month. The rate is thus double and you have access to a fraction of the services. For the properties you manage, what standard of services can you guarantee? Every building that we are involved in has a stand-by generator due to the frequent power failures experienced in these countries. A number of South African service providers such as Gray Security Services and OTIS Elevator Company are moving into the African environment. As such, we contract out servicessuch as cleaning and securityto preferred service providers. In the past, firms managed
