 Tell us more about it. What's been your experience with it in the industry as a real estate consultant? Yeah, I think it's exciting and I Think with the you know, COVID has evaporated the the ready-high office day can be in the various CBDs and metros Good evening and everybody and welcome to the private property podcast right here on our private property Facebook page It is a beautiful day today and we are we're looking forward to welcoming you Thank you so much to everybody who is joining us yet again our regulars Thank you so much for always coming back and if you are here for the first time here on this podcast We take you through everything property. We take you through buying selling investing and overall just growing your property portfolio We bring you experts in their own rights people who are going to give you advice Give you tips and tricks on how you can grow your property portfolio So if you are joining us for the first time throw us those beautiful green hearts Let us know where you are watching us from we are absolutely excited to have you here And thank you for joining us and you're not the only one joining us today tonight We have justine adreanza who is a real estate consultant who's going to be talking to us about how under 35s like myself Are reclaiming South Africa's inner cities like we are going back into the CBDs, you know So many office blocks and places that we used to know as offices have not been converted into apartments people are now living There's beautiful penthouses. There's beautiful places apartments that one can now rent in the inner city. So Justine is going to be taking us through all of that. So make sure that you stay tuned if that's something you're interested in Justine good evening and welcome Hi, thank you for having me to me. Thanks. It is It's an absolute pleasure. We are looking forward to having the conversation tonight I mean this is something really on the pulse. I mean so many people are moving back into the cities You know, especially with COVID working from home. So many offices and office spaces Are being turned into apartments and people are now working from home permanently So I just want us to talk about this because we've been seeing this this influx so many of these developments have been happening and Tell us more about it. What's been your experience with it in the industry as a real estate consultant? So, yeah, it's exciting and I Think with the, you know, COVID has evaporated the already high office vacancies in the various CBDs and metros For instance in in Cape Town, Johannesburg. We had the highest vacancy rates on record during COVID and the lockdown and you know, obviously landlords are sitting with these these empty spaces or empty buildings and many of them are They are actual urban and not sectional title so the landlord owns the entire property and now he's sitting with these floors that you know, just basically like with almost the ghost town in the CBD and Have now decided to to Repurpose these properties and Do office to come to residential conversion or office to residential and retail Conversion, so it's very exciting and even before before COVID There was an increase in the in the vacancy rates offered vacancy rates in the CDs So it was already, you know, it was starting to take place that the office buildings were being repurposed for for residential And why do you think it's becoming so so so lucrative? Well, why do you think people or the younger people the younger generation are seeing it as something interesting to do? I mean people are just moving in, you know, they started moving in Why why do you think they prefer this rather than developments that are like on the outskirts of the cities? Yeah, well, I mean 35 and below like our soul, you know, we want to we want the convenience of enjoying the amenities in our meat in our immediate area, you know, if you stay in the Cape Town You can get your foot into the property market in a micro apartment, which is okay It's small. It's like 18 to 20 feet square meters But you've got your foot in the market and those buildings generally have a You know communal amenities or you know, they have a rooftop pool area with a beautiful bright facility You've got the views of Table Mountain City Bowl the Table Bay and then in the bottom you have change your restaurants and bars and Yeah Nightlife and even the day, you know, I'm enjoying the view where you can you can frequent and it's all within walking distance And even just commuting you can drive to the various promenades And that's maximum ten minute drive. So, you know, yes, you're buying a smaller property But if you're not starting a family in the next five years, you can enjoy Cape Town's amenities and you know all the different offerings and I'm glad you put in the property markets Yeah, and also once you do move on to the next edge of your life But it's what you want to do. You have a short-term lease option So I mean journey for tourists if they come to Cape Town or to Durban, for instance, they want to be close to To the various offerings of that city and then you have the short-list option like an ABNB unit that you can then gain income from once you've moved out to 12 Sure, sure. I see and people talk a lot about how Cities or or yeah inner cities and CBDs don't really or not the best for you know, raising children and maybe even Inhabiting as humans because you know, there's all of this A pollution and and interested industrialization and people feel like there's not really a homie homely feel Just do you believe that there's any out? I'd potentially say risks for people to move Into the city is are the cities conducive or are they ready to be to start accepting people to come live in them and not just work in them Yeah, for sure. Um, I speak mainly for for myself would be the Cape Town CDD And we're lucky you have to be on the coast. So, yeah We've never really had the problem or the I wouldn't say a problem But the scenario of smog or or or air pollution Because we have that coastal climate Johannesburg CDD I don't want to speak too much on that because it's not my full pair But maybe in that, you know, in that respect that could be a concern. I know in terms of On the ground pollution if I could say or you know, we've got the CC ID here in Cape Town And I know they've started something similar in Johannesburg but the public safety community Safety, what do you call it before or more? Which keeps that, you know, fairly fairly clean and and the cure. So, yeah, I don't think the Pollution or you know, yeah, I think they'll be less more to the industrial areas, but I don't yeah I think Africa as a whole we our air pollution is Manageable An expert in that Definitely, there's something you said earlier in the conversation and you spoke a little bit about price And I would like to delve in that in terms of price, you know Pricing is is a big factor when when an under 35 is making a decision because I mean you don't want to To find yourself in a fix at the end of the month. So would you say your opinion? That these developments that are in the city are more affordable And if they are more affordable, do they compare to to what I would have gotten in the development that's in the outskirts of the city So not necessarily And that's again for the kfcbd, you know, we there's only so much land available that there's left to Well, there isn't really much left of land to to develop on price. So you are repurposing existing building and The buildings already do have a value or book value or, you know, or the current owner would like to achieve So once you purchase that building, hopefully at a highly reasonable rate, you still need to cost in that conversion Um, it's not a cheap exercise. Generally, you'd want um sales off plan before you can get funding to do the conversion If that's the reach you want to go so I would say it is a bit more it is a bit more expensive to buy in the city. Um, or city bowl But then you're also getting the the convenience of what you have in your immediate. Yeah, your value in your immediate vicinity, you know, your Yeah, what's the area has to offer? Um If you look out into to the List congested areas, you know, I would say the price is maybe if in your CBD you're looking at 50 to 60 up to 70 000 square meter at purchase price You would see it would be a far cheaper off in the more outlying areas But then you're going to travel in to enjoy what we have in the city and in the next round So, yes, it is more expensive. But again, um, if you're looking looking to get your foot into the market, you can buy a micro apartment um, where you're And also interest rates have dropped when I assigned to to increase again, but But once you decide to move out yourself if you do then your short-term list, you know, should also cover that That cost, um, you'll get that return back No, thank you so much for that. Um, if you are only joining us now We are talking how under 35s are reclaiming South Africa's inner cities And thank you so much for the engagement that we're already getting on the socials and earlier on in the week we asked Um, and this question, uh, it's actually justine. This question is right up our early because it says, um, we asked The people on facebook if you are a joe book baby A cape town all the way or an international, you know person, you know, you want to live internationally and Um, stefan stefan extend said definitely the waterfall estates He says joe book definitely because the waterfall estates blue hills a question estate stain city had uh, capes out has nothing on those estates Oh really? And adam's landy says I want the cape for the mountain so clearly adam's doesn't want to live in the inner city So, um in your case and and don't let's not be biased But I know that you're in cape town right now But if you were to choose right between all our metropolitans and living in the inner city in the metropolitans, which one would you live in? And i'm not being biased I am familiar with the various cvds. Um, I have traveled to Traveled to the different cvd and the johannesburg cvd before work and I would still choose cape town Um, you know, it's bigger the safety concern. Um, and we have got a great the cvd is fantastic. Um I know the organization very well Um, it's it's clean Um, and you know, you have got the mountain views because the ocean views I mean some of these developments like foreshore plates, for instance Once you're on the busiest floor on the one side you've got the mountain on the other side You've got the harbor on the other side. You've got green point stadium, you know, so it's incredible these like panoramic almost 350g that you have So it's not being biased It is just a beautiful city for yeah Thank you so much for that and you you just mentioned something very important in terms of safety And I would like to jump to the kind of features that one should look out for like if i'm considering moving back into the inner cities What are the sort of features that I should be thinking because some people would you know, you you're not typically going to have a garden You know and and picket fence, but what would you look for then? What are the things you should look out for? Um, most certainly, you know, if you'd want parking That's um, it seems almost obvious, but you don't want to believe in your car if you do travel by car You don't want to believe in on the street. Um Yeah, you definitely like a parking there which you drive into especially at night um cctv 24 hour security, you know, ideally a concierge service or just an armed security at the desk. Um, if you're walking into the building in terms of I know i'm said the word amenities are often but it is a very valuable point is that sure you want Definitely, you know, you look for a building that has a rooftop pool Because if you maybe are buying it, I mean because the costs are per square meter to purchase in the city or Immediate surrounds is more expensive. You want that you want to know that development will have extra offerings like a pool um a rooftop pool or A bribe facility, maybe a gym Um, you look for high speed international fiber double glazing And for noise black, you know, just to reduce noise um And then obviously, yeah Look because you're still buying a small unit If you can't have a balcony, then maybe a juliex balcony Such a door's open out to, you know, you know, you can't walk out of the bulk onto the bulk of it Just opens out of do something, you know, I feel like you're boxing to be four walls so Yeah, um Views, you know, if you're living in an apartment, you know, if it's a smaller one You don't want to feel boxed in so big windows Natural life is always stunning. Um and views Yeah, no, the the city skylines at night are absolutely amazing, you know, I've experienced some of them In joeberg and cape town and I can I can tell you they are absolutely absolutely amazing. So I just want um Talk us through Some of the developments maybe um in your opinion that um one should look out for to say Specifically in in these areas. This is where you should look for this is um This is where you would look and I know that you use you specifically spoke about cape town But you can just maybe name drop talk call a little bit of those I don't know if we call them many suburbs that are actually in the city because they are not becoming These these areas that's where people specifically live. Um, do you do you mind, you know, just talking us through some of them? Yeah Yeah, for sure. So, um, you know, in like in in the cape town cvd We actually have like the cvd itself, which is like the heart of the city We've got the the financial district who got the foreshore city ball and several so that for instance the foreshore We have harbor arch that's coming up. We've got Foreshore play set. Um, you see the the old afterbuilding They've put an enormous Caffex into that property and um, I think it's 32 floors And the portion of that is residential and it is incredible. So it's mixed use again. It's retail on the ground floor Um, an office component and and residential that you could also you can Purchase those those residential units. Um abland property developers are building the rubik Which also be split between that's in loop street in the heart of the cvd. Um, that will be also ground retail and office and residential with the rooftop pool again Beautiful views of um signal hall luck signal heal lines. So they want them at the cable bay Um, of course, but you not that you want to be sorry 16 ombre, which is actually just residential and retail um, that's at the bottom of brief g's also stunning And um, some of the micro apartments. I Gosh, I I don't want to speak under correction. I think it's called look solo. Um Those are surely micro apartments, um 18 square meters Um, that's often a cvd and then you've got the rocker fella on the foreshore also micro apart hotel Um, another concept apart at all so you can purchase a unit and then also have Garnet the birds into a rental pool as part of the hotel Or you can stay there yourself. That was also micro units from 18 to 23. I think there's two bedrooms in that in that development So, yeah, they spread across um across the city Yes, yeah, yeah We are receiving amazing love from our our our family on facebook and um, a lot of people might Want to know or would like to know what is the difference because um, We're hearing a bit of jog and come through there in terms of your micro Apartments apartment hotels. Maybe would you like to take us through what the difference is and where you would believe? A first-time buyer would go and someone who just wants to increase their property Portfolio would go and and which purpose each one would serve So, yeah, it's um What depends on, you know, what you're looking for and if you just want to get your foot into the market um into the the Into the cvd property market, then you must like you look at a micro apartment They start from 18 square meters Which could be likened to almost two parking beds But um, they they're so cleverly configured I mean you could have some of them have the pullout bed even so you you know If you're having a guest or two over you put your bed back into the wall and it's a comfortable one It's not like all school you see in those all the problems or the stuff you think coming Just pulled out the all the wall, you know, it's very modern and then you've got a strip kitchenette um, maybe you'll have instead of a full full oven oven top you'll have the two conductor or you know, just to a two plates conductor And a two-seater couch and that's like 18 to 23 square meters in a small little balcony You know, that's been a confined to two four walls again. Um from and this would be a micro That's a micro apartment. Yeah, so that's that's great for a To purchase you want to say it's in yourself for maybe on your partner or just yourself for a few years and then you can Just also you check your your the Sorry the building body of corporate rules before you purchase that it can then be used as a A short trim legs a bnb and then that's how you'd hold the unit, you know, you just have it as a short trim legs for Six months kind of six months one year kind of listing to to get income from the unit um, and then from there you'd have your 20 squares up to Maybe 25 would be a studio apartment um, and then and then so up it goes. Um, yeah A part hotel. Sorry a part hotel is where part of the building is also a hotel. Um And you can purchase a unit in that building in the development and then take advantage of the The offerings of the property. Um, so maybe it's a concierge service. They could be cleaning On sites, you know, they could clean your units and that's an awful part of your levy Um, so you have your race, which is your general property taxes And then your levy which is an additional title for your unit And then like the cleaning would form part of your levy. So yeah, those are the various Scenarios when purchasing Yeah, hopefully hopefully we'll get to know more about those ones when they've got even new ones coming up So that when people can be encouraged to own property And thank you so much to to everyone who who's really engaging on our conversation and bringing in those green hearts We see you and we are really really grateful that you guys are here with us tonight So then we are going to i'm just going to really close it off here and and thank you so much for for joining us It's been a really really informative conversation And thank you so much for sharing your insights with us and we I hope that somebody who is watching Really gained a lot from the conversation that we had tonight Thank you So we have come to the end of our episode tonight and thank you so so much Thank you for the comment. Thank you for the questions and of course for tuning in Please do share this episode even after we have gone live with anyone you think might require to hear such information because Yes, we are we are just as strong as the information that we have We're looking forward to seeing you tomorrow same time same place right here on the private property Facebook page 7 p.m at So keep keep those green hearts coming and have yourself a great evening. Thank you