Growthpoint targets one-day leases with SmartLease

Launching in November, Growthpoint’s new digital leasing platform aims to replace fragmented processes with one faster, simpler journey from enquiry to signed commercial lease.

• SmartLease aims to reduce a commercial leasing process that can take weeks to a guided digital journey completed far more quickly.
• Clients and brokers enter information once, reducing duplication, administrative delays and repeated exchanges between multiple teams.
• Growthpoint will support the November rollout with structured onboarding for clients, brokers and internal teams across its commercial portfolio.

Growthpoint Properties is preparing to launch SmartLease across its commercial property portfolio in November, with an ambitious goal: to make it possible to conclude a commercial lease in a day.

The JSE-listed property group unveiled the platform during its Friction to Flow discussion at the Africa PropTech Forum 2026, held alongside the African Property Investment Summit in Cape Town.

SmartLease is designed to create a faster, simpler and more connected journey from a prospective client’s first enquiry to the conclusion of a lease.

Rather than merely transferring an existing paper-based system online, Growthpoint says it has redesigned the leasing journey around the needs of clients, brokers and its internal property teams.

From fragmented process to connected platform

Commercial leasing has traditionally involved a sequence of enquiries, property information, documentation, approvals, financial checks, negotiations and signatures.

Different participants may require the same information at different stages, creating repeated requests, administrative delays and uncertainty about where an application sits in the process.

SmartLease aims to bring these steps into one guided digital flow. Clients and broker partners provide the information required for a leasing transaction through the platform. That information then moves through the process, helping to reduce duplication and unnecessary exchanges while bringing the appropriate internal teams into the transaction at the right time.

For Growthpoint, this should create greater visibility across the complete leasing journey. For clients and brokers, the objective is a clearer, more consistent experience with fewer delays between deciding on a property and concluding the lease.

Background to Growthpoint and SmartLease

Growthpoint Properties, listed on the JSE under the share code GRT, owns and manages a major portfolio spanning offices, retail centres, logistics facilities and industrial properties.

SmartLease forms part of the group’s wider digital transformation strategy and its move towards a more client-centred commercial property model.

The platform is intended to improve more than administrative efficiency. By creating a structured digital record of the leasing journey, it could help Growthpoint understand client demand, leasing conversion points and the factors that influence property decisions across its portfolio.

Over time, this data should enable the group to identify friction, improve processes and respond more precisely to changing client preferences.

Moving beyond the traditional landlord model

SmartLease reflects Growthpoint’s shift away from a traditional landlord relationship built primarily around buildings, contracts and rental collections.

The group is increasingly designing its systems around the experience of the businesses and people occupying its properties. This “outside-in” approach begins with what clients, brokers and internal teams require and then develops the systems needed to deliver it.

“We are designing every interaction around how businesses and people actually expect to engage today: digitally, responsively and without unnecessary friction,” says Lauren Turner, Head of Corporate Affairs at Growthpoint Properties.

“The goal is a more connected, more consistent experience across every stage of the client relationship, from first contact to occupation and beyond.”

Turner says SmartLease was developed with the expectations of modern commercial-property clients in mind. “We appreciate that our clients live in a digital world and expect a seamless, intuitive experience from the start. With SmartLease, we’ve applied client-first thinking to the digitised journey that begins with our very first interaction together.”

The distinction is important. SmartLease is not simply an electronic version of the old leasing process. Growthpoint says the journey was reconsidered from the ground up, supported by specialist technology expertise.

Reimagining the leasing process

The platform’s guiding ambition is to achieve a lease in a day. Timothy Irvine, Growthpoint Properties’ Head of Asset Management: Offices, says the objective was shaped by the frustration, delays and duplication that conventional commercial leasing can create for clients and property managers.

“Businesses today value efficiency,” says Irvine. “Once they have made a decision, they want to get the deal done and get back to business, not spend weeks working through piles of paperwork or getting caught up in duplicated processes. We don’t want this either.”

SmartLease aims to accelerate the process through:

• A structured digital journey from enquiry to lease.
• Reduced duplication of client and transaction information.
• Faster checks and clearer approvals.
• Better coordination between leasing and internal teams.
• Greater visibility of the transaction’s progress.
• A more consistent experience for broker partners.
• More useful data on client demand and conversion.

The practical value will depend on execution. Commercial leases can involve negotiations, compliance requirements and deal-specific complexities that cannot always be compressed into a single day.

The “lease in a day” ambition is therefore best understood as the platform’s target for transactions where the property, commercial terms and required information are ready, not a guarantee that every commercial lease will be concluded within 24 hours.

Even so, reducing avoidable administrative delays could materially improve the experience for businesses seeking space and for brokers responsible for moving transactions towards completion.

Why the platform matters

For clients, a shorter and more transparent process could reduce the disruption involved in securing premises. For brokers, a connected journey could create greater certainty around documentation, approvals and the status of each transaction.

For Growthpoint, the benefits include more efficient internal collaboration, a more scalable leasing process and better information about client behaviour across its office, retail, logistics and industrial assets.

A smoother leasing journey could also become a competitive advantage. In a market where businesses may compare several properties with similar rentals and locations, the ease and speed of concluding a transaction can influence the final decision.

Digital leasing will not replace the importance of the property itself, the commercial terms or the broker relationship. It can, however, remove administrative friction after a client decides to proceed.

Rollout and adoption

SmartLease will officially enter Growthpoint’s broader leasing ecosystem in November 2026. The group is preparing structured onboarding and support for clients, broker partners and internal teams before and during the initial rollout.

This support will be critical. The effectiveness of any new platform depends not only on its technology, but also on whether the people using it understand the process and consistently adopt it.

“SmartLease is an important step in doing things differently for our clients and broker partners,” says Irvine. “We’re excited for a successful launch in November and look forward to working with SmartLease users to ensure they feel the benefit of it immediately.”

The first test will be whether SmartLease can reduce duplication and move straightforward transactions through the leasing process materially faster.

The longer-term opportunity is bigger: using a connected digital journey and portfolio-wide data to build stronger client relationships, improve leasing decisions and change how one of South Africa’s largest commercial property portfolios engages with the market.