This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
Gerhard Zeelie, Head of Property Finance Africa at Nedbank CIB, notes that the pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for Africa's property sector to reset its economic development compass.
With the continent's property landscape still in its infancy, Africa has immense opportunities to leverage the pandemic lessons as a springboard for future-focused property development.
The hospitality sector was undoubtedly the hardest hit by the pandemic, with revenues coming to a complete and sudden halt as travel was shut down.
However, stakeholders would still be well advised to consider innovative ways in which to leverage and maximise the significant value of their assets as the world once again becomes more mobile going forward.
The office sub-sector also experienced significant negative impacts, but revenue streams were not as widely or extensively shut down as with the hospitality sector.
With the potential for remote working now clearly demonstrated, workplace ecosystems are set to transform, and there is a real opportunity to completely rethink the role and purpose of office space going forward.
The same is true for retail property, where the isolation resulting from Covid-19 lockdown responses highlighted the need for human interaction in African communities.
While the impact of the pandemic was quite severe in this sub-sector, the recovery may also be swift – particularly given that online trade has not yet gained enough of a foothold to be a significant driver of shopping behaviour change.
So, there is significant opportunity for retail developers to capitalise on the lessons learned over the past two months; the most important of which is the need to rethink the primary role of retail centres and change the focus from shopping centres to holistic experience destinations.
