Property brokers perceived demand in all three commercial property markets’ (industrial, retail and office) nationally to exceed supply during Q3 2025 – a first since the launch of the FNB Commercial Property Finance Broker Survey in 2019.

In the industrial property market, 75% of brokers perceived demand to exceed supply during the quarter. By comparison, 50% of the brokers perceived demand to exceed supply in the retail property market and 54% perceived the office property market as ‘undersupplied’.

The brokers indicated that industrial property is selling the fastest with the shortest average time on the market for occupied properties of 12.83 weeks. Retail property is perceived to sell slower at 17.50 weeks and office assets – the slowest selling at 19.59 weeks. For vacant properties – industrial (12.49 weeks), retail (17.70 weeks) and 18.90 weeks for office properties.

FNB Economist John Loos says that the reduction in the perceived oversupply in the office market has been due to office space being repurposed to residential and/or mixed-use properties, especially in the Greater Johannesburg regional market.

“The moderate strengthening in economic growth, along with the mild interest rate reduction, is expected to sustain a near term strengthening in demand for commercial space, driving improved returns on property, and in turn encouraging stronger investor demand,” he says.

“’Balanced-to-undersupplied’ markets, on a national aggregated basis, could therefore likely continue in the major three commercial property markets in the near term.”