Daily-needs retail dominates Broll's November auction
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Daily-needs retail dominates Broll's November auction. Broll Auctions and Sales will auction 41 commercial properties on 25 November 2026 at The Wanderers Golf Club in Illovo, Johannesburg. Fuel stations and supermarket or pharmacy-anchored convenience centres dominate the catalogue, with no large enclosed regional mall on the list. Norman Raad, CEO of Broll Auctions and Sales, says, "The properties people visit every day, for fuel, groceries, medicine and a haircut, are often the ones we see bidders competing hardest for." The standout lot pairs two rebranded Astron fuel stations in Bryanston and Midrand, sold together as property and operating businesses. Moreleta Sentrum in Pretoria East generates gross annual income of R8.5 million, while the Posthouse retail centre in Bryanston has gross annual income of R8.4 million against a projected net income of R4.1 million for the 2027 to 2028 period. Industrial and development stock, including an 18,694 square metres site in Gallo Manor, Sandton, is also on offer. Read the full story by Neale Petersen on rei.co.za.
Fuel stations and convenience centres dominate the 41 commercial properties going under the hammer with Broll Auctions and Sales, as investors chase the defensive income that daily spending delivers through economic cycles.
- Broll Auctions and Sales will auction 41 commercial properties on 25 November 2026, alongside industrial and development stock.
- Fuel stations and supermarket-anchored centres dominate the catalogue, with Norman Raad citing daily spending as the driver of strong bidder demand.
- Two Astron forecourts on busy Johannesburg routes are sold together as property and operating businesses, a pairing Raad says rarely reaches the market.
Broll Auctions and Sales will auction 41 commercial properties on 25 November 2026 at The Wanderers Golf Club in Illovo, Johannesburg, alongside industrial stock and development land in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.
Forty-one properties, one common thread
The catalogue is heavy on fuel stations and supermarket or pharmacy-anchored convenience centres. There is no large enclosed regional mall on the list.
Norman Raad, CEO of Broll Auctions and Sales, says the mix reflects where buyer demand has concentrated through 2026.
“The properties people visit every day, for fuel, groceries, medicine and a haircut, are often the ones we see bidders competing hardest for,” says Raad.
“That daily spend keeps tenants trading through slower cycles, and investors have noticed,” he adds.
Why fuel and groceries are beating the mall
For investors, the logic is straightforward: fuel, groceries, pharmacies and personal care are recurring, non-discretionary purchases.
Tenants in these categories tend to keep paying rent even when consumer spending tightens elsewhere, which reduces the vacancy and rental-reversion risk that has weighed on larger, more discretionary-focused shopping centres in recent cycles.
Moreleta Sentrum in Pretoria East shows how that plays out in a lease structure. The TotalEnergies-anchored centre runs on fixed escalations of 5% to 8% a year, a level of contracted rental growth that is harder to find in centres reliant on footfall-driven, turnover-linked leases.
Premium forecourts headline the sale
The standout lot pairs two rebranded Astron fuel stations on busy Johannesburg routes, sold together as property and operating businesses.
Astron Posthouse, on Main Road in Bryanston, sits on a 2,443m² erf with a new ten-year head lease and average throughput of around 200,000 litres a month.
Astron Corporate House, on Old Pretoria Road in Midrand, occupies a 4,108m² erf and trades at roughly 330,000 litres a month, down from historical volumes close to double that, though a recently completed road expansion has improved access and visibility.
“Branded forecourts of this calibre on major Johannesburg routes very seldom come to market, and two at once, with operations included, is rarer still,” says Raad.
Outside Rustenburg, the 5.4ha Olifantsnek property centres on a five-pump Quest forecourt pumping around 140,000 litres a month, alongside a convenience store, a double-volume restaurant and deli, a vacant shop, a house and three rental flatlets, with the Quest agreement running to 2032.
In Colenso, KwaZulu-Natal, the town’s only fuel station occupies 8,094m², opposite the municipal offices and Magistrates’ Court, with additional bulk available for a buyer to expand.
A diesel-only white-site station in Mayville, Pretoria, offers upside for an operator willing to rebrand and broaden the fuel offering.
Convenience centres with income already in place
Several of the shopping centres on offer come with tenants and income already locked in. Moreleta Sentrum generates gross annual income of R8.5 million.
In Alberton North, a 3,300m² centre next to Parklands High School produces R4.76 million a year, while a similarly sized centre in the Carletonville CBD, anchored by Shoprite, generates R4.77 million a year. Both are listed with no transfer duty payable, a saving that lifts the net return for a buyer.
In Evaton, the Superspar-anchored centre generates gross rental exceeding R500,000 a month from 3,246m² of retail space, with the price reduced and scope to add value by letting remaining vacancies.
In Bryanston, the Posthouse retail centre’s gross annual income sits at R8.4 million, while net income is projected to reach R4.1 million for the 2027 to 2028 period.
That gap between gross and net income is worth pausing on. Gross income is simply what tenants pay in rent before costs; net income is what remains after rates, levies, management fees and vacancies, and it is net income, not gross, that should be measured against a purchase price to calculate a true yield.
Posthouse’s own figures, an R8.4 million gross income producing a projected R4.1 million net, are a reminder that a high headline rental does not automatically mean a high return.
In Eden Glen, Edenvale, the 1,347m² Terraces Shopping Centre is fully let and produces R2.84 million a year, with Business 2 zoning that permits a second storey for a buyer wanting to add bulk. A 140m² retail unit in Umhlanga New Town Centre, near Gateway Theatre of Shopping, offers a smaller entry point with two basement parking bays.
Industrial and development stock also on the block
The auction is not limited to daily-needs retail. Industrial lots include a 1.4ha property in West Turffontein with four warehouses and 32 storage units, a 2,673m² liquidation sale in Gerdview, Germiston, and tenanted warehouses in Braelyn, East London and North End, Gqeberha.
On the development side, an 18,694m² Special-zoned site behind Morning Glen Shopping Centre in Gallo Manor, Sandton, could suit a school, residential scheme or institutional use, subject to approvals.
“Land of this size in an established Sandton suburb very rarely reaches the open market,” says Raad. A 4,740m² office building opposite Small Street Mall in the Johannesburg CBD, 25% tenanted, is being pitched as a candidate for conversion to multi-level retail or mixed use.
What this means for property investors
For investors weighing where to deploy capital in the current cycle, the composition of this catalogue is itself a signal. A sector that can point to fixed escalations, fuel leases running to 2030 and 2032, and no transfer duty on some lots is offering a defensive, income-first proposition that does not depend on a single large anchor tenant or on discretionary footfall.
The lesson from Posthouse applies across the catalogue: before weighing any asking price against the gross income quoted in a brochure, investors should ask for the net income figure, since that is what ultimately determines the real yield on the purchase price.
The REI take: a premium for daily-needs income
This auction will not settle the debate about where South African retail capital is headed, but it is a useful data point. Daily-needs retail, fuel, groceries, pharmacies and personal care, is attracting competitive bidding because tenants in these categories keep trading when consumers pull back elsewhere, and because several of the leases on offer run for years rather than months.
The results on 25 November will be the real test: if these lots clear at strong prices relative to their income, it will confirm that defensive, daily-needs income is now commanding a premium over the discretionary retail that once defined shopping centre investment in South Africa.