The Sales Team Leader at Remax Real Specialists Eswatini Ellroy Jonhston says commercial property continues to do well in the country despite tough economic times.
The property sector is one of the sectors that has been heavily affected by the aggressive hike in interest rates effected by the Central Bank of Eswatini.
However, despite this and a number of other adverse factors the commercial sector continues to see sales and a relatively healthy development.
Jonhston in an interview with this publication noted that in the past two quarters, a number of local businesses have been purchasing property in areas such as Matsapha and Mbabane.
The experienced real estate broker noted that businesses purchasing commercial property are mostly those that have been renting but have now decided to purchase commercial property for mixed-use purposes, which largely entails warehousing.
He said these are companies that are expanding in most cases.
“Companies in the country are purchasing commercial property for a number of reasons, such as expansion. The challenge they mostly come across is that they cannot do alterations on a leased property, which is why they then opt to buy somewhere else.”
When asked how companies manage to purchase commercial property in such tough economic times, this is what Jonhston had to say, “Most of these companies that are purchasing a property do not necessarily require a lot of financing from banks. They in certain cases require part financing, but others are buying in cash.”
In terms of size, the Remax Eswatini broker noted that the companies purchasing are large-scale blooming SMEs.