The City of Joburg is selling nine plots by tender, and on the first two it has published the lowest bid it will accept. A vacant 3,728m² stand in Bryanston starts at R8.2 million, about R2,200 a square metre. A 6,731m² industrial site in City Deep starts at R5 million, about R743 a square metre, while serviced vacant land nearby is listed at R1,250 to R1,400. Both close at 10:30 on 2 October.

City land in Bryanston rarely reaches the market, and most buyers never see it, because the Johannesburg Property Company sells by tender, not through agents. The Bryanston stand is zoned Municipal, so it needs rezoning, but the City's own recommendation is residential.

Two catches: the Bryanston title carries a 1992 notarial deed that could restrict the site, so check it first. City Deep is being used illegally as storage, and clearing it takes time.

The Play:

Build one line per lot: reserve, size, rand per square metre, zoning, recommended use, anything on the title, occupation status. Then add what it would cost to get the location to a point where it generates income: rezoning fees and months, clearing, services. The lot where reserve plus costs still sits under what finished stock sells for nearby is your bid. Scoring is 80% price. Enquiries go to [email protected].

Most geared owners pay a raising fee when a bank grants a loan, often about 2%, and SARS's official line was that you could not deduct it. On 7 September, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled 4 to 1 against SARS in the case of Cornucopia Trust, a Bloemfontein property trust that borrowed from Sanlam to buy and refinance commercial buildings.

The court found that raising fees work like interest: no fee, no loan, and they are priced on the loan amount and the lender's risk. On a R100 million loan with a 2% fee, that is R2 million of deductions, worth roughly R540,000 to a company at 27% tax (our illustration). It’s claimed over the life of the loan, not in one go, and legal and advisory fees still do not qualify.

One caution: tax specialists expect SARS to argue that the ruling only fits these fees, and one judge dissented.

The Play:

List every loan and refinance you hold: lender, amount, raising fee, date and term. On each invoice, split the raising fee from legal and advisory costs. If you followed SARS's guidance and never claimed, you may have overpaid, so ask your tax practitioner which earlier years can still be reopened. Note: This is not tax advice; always consult an expert.

Burstone has put 14 of its SA properties (5 shopping centres and 9 industrial buildings) into a new unlisted fund and sold half to Nedbank Property Partners for about R677 million. The portfolio was priced at R5.155 billion, 5% below Burstone's own R5.429 billion valuation, for a yield of 8.4% on R435 million of annual net income.

The fund is built to take in more investors, and a large institution is already in talks for a second round. It starts at 70% debt, meant to fall as money comes in, and still needs Competition Commission approval.

Even if you never invest, this is a real price: a listed landlord took 5% under its own valuation to raise capital, on rural malls like Dihlabeng and Kriel, as well as well-let Gauteng and KZN warehouses.

The Play:

Put 8.4% and 5% below book into your valuation sheet as the benchmark for similar stock. For each of yours, pull net income, last valuation and rent per square metre, and set them against the fund's: its malls rent at about R170 to R260 a square metre a month, its warehouses at about R90. If your yield sits well under 8.4% on similar stock, your valuation is probably ahead of the market.

A 7,500m² strip centre just became a 21,500m² mall. Exemplar has reopened iTonka Square in Springs as an enclosed, double-anchored centre after a R395 million, eight-month rebuild, adding Boxer, Clicks and four banks. If you own a tired strip centre in a busy node, the land may carry three times the retail it does now.

A community investor is buying a mall built for mineworkers. The Competition Commission has recommended approval for Community Property Company's purchase of Umphakathi Mall, a 14,000m² centre off the R28 between Mohlakeng and Toekomsrus, where most residents work on the mines. Boxer, Pick n Pay and Cashbuild anchor its 45 stores. The Tribunal still has to sign off.

Transnet wants a partner for a R44 billion manganese corridor. It has opened applications for a private operator to expand and run the Ngqura manganese corridor, from Northern Cape mines to the ports at Gqeberha and Ngqura, where trucks have been filling the gap. Applications close 26 February. Industrial land along that route is worth watching.

Durban's port jammed, Gqeberha's didn't. Container volumes fell 21% in one week after bad weather cut Durban Gateway Terminal's throughput by 39%, leaving 33 ships queued off Durban. The Port Elizabeth terminal moved more than double its target with no congestion. A rebound is forecast, but the Eastern Cape keeps proving itself the backup route.

Zimbabwe is SA's biggest single farm-export customer. It bought 8% of SA's agricultural exports in 2025, $1.2 billion (R20 billion), as much as the Middle East and BRICS combined, mostly maize, soybeans and animal feed. The Netherlands takes more, but much of that is re-exported. For logistics owners in Limpopo, it is the largest single buyer next door.

One of South Africa's biggest power plants cut crime on site by 88.5%, and a big part of it was a camera that learned to ignore the wildlife.

The plant sits on a huge perimeter, mostly empty ground. Round-the-clock CCTV meant a control room chasing every movement, and on a site full of animals, most movements were antelope, not thieves.

AI camera traps and motion sensors changed that. They filter out the animals and send an instant alert when a person crosses the fence, or a hole appears in it. Now nobody stares at screens all night, but they know exactly what is moving where.

Built. A newsletter by The Awareness Company.