Sandton Office Vacancies: Reading the Recovery

The office headline is finally a good one. The detail underneath it is more interesting, and more useful.

Per SAPOA, the national office vacancy rate fell to about 13.1 percent in Q3 2025, the lowest level since 2020. After a brutal few years, that is a genuine turn.

Sandton is really two markets

Treat Sandton as one node and you will misprice it. The newer core, built on recent premium stock, has run at single-digit vacancy near 9 percent. The historic core has sat above 34 percent.

P-grade, the premium tier, has actually lagged the wider recovery. In a tight economy, tenants are trading down, leaving expensive prime space for well-located A and B-grade buildings that cost less per square metre. That is flight to quality and flight to value at the same time.

What it means for investors

“Office is recovering” is too blunt to invest on. The recovery is concentrated in newer, greener, well-located buildings. Older premium towers in the wrong part of a node still carry real reversion and vacancy risk.

Underwrite the building and the block, not the sector average. For value-add buyers, the opportunity is in the gap: well-located older stock bought at a discount, then refurbished or repurposed to the standard tenants are actually leasing today.