Retail rents and trading densities slip just behind inflation in Q2 2026, the Clur Index shows

Shopping-centre rents and sales both grew slightly slower than inflation in the second quarter of 2026. National base rent rose 4.8% year on year to R248.69/m², 0.2 percentage points below June CPI of 5.0%, while annualised trading density rose 4.6% to R43,612/m², 0.4 points behind inflation. The figures come from the Clur Index, which tracks more than 5.4 million square metres of retail space across listed and unlisted property funds in South Africa and Namibia.

Smaller centres are growing rents fastest

Base rent per square metre and its year-on-year growth by type of centre:

• Super-regional: R335.64/m², up 4.5%
• Regional: R242.07/m², up 4.6%
• Community and smaller: R202.37/m², up 5.6%
• Small regional: R197.77/m², up 5.2%

Only the smaller formats — community centres and small regionals — grew rents ahead of inflation. The biggest centres still command the highest rents, but their rental growth was the softest.

Sales tell a similar story

Trading density growth was 5.1% in super-regional centres, 4.6% in regional centres and 4.4% in community and smaller centres, the last of which trailed inflation by 0.6 points. The base rent-to-sales ratio, a measure of how much of a tenant's turnover goes on rent, held at 6.6% nationally, where it has been since mid-2024 — about 7.2% in super-regional centres and 4.7% in community and smaller centres.

Western Cape stays ahead

By province, base rental growth was strongest in the Western Cape, up 5.3% to R274.07/m² and the only province ahead of inflation, followed by Gauteng at 4.8% and KwaZulu-Natal at 3.8%.

Reading the numbers

Belinda Clur, managing director of Clur International, described the quarter as an inflection point, with both trading density and rental growth slipping behind inflation in May and June. The gap is small, but for retail tenants it is a reminder that rent escalations need to be matched by sales growth — and for landlords, that consumer spending is not keeping pace with prices. If you are looking at retail space, you can browse retail property to let, or see how asking rentals compare in the Western Cape.

Source: Clur Index Q2 2026 (Clur International), as reported by BusinessDay, 8 September 2026, and Property Wheel.

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