A portfolio built for people and performance

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4 August 2025

Across Divercity’s 9,000-unit portfolio, we are proud to report a 96% occupancy rate. This is a testament to the strong, resilient demand for affordable, well-located rental housing.

“These numbers matter,” says our Chief Investment Officer, Jonathan Reader. “They’re as much about people as they are about performance. Every leased unit means one more household with access to a better-connected, amenity-rich life.”

Divercity’s approach to multifamily residential investment is grounded in a belief that inclusive cities are good for everyone — residents, investors, neighbours and businesses alike. By offering professionally managed, purpose-built housing in high-opportunity areas, we create places where people can live and thrive.

Redefining rental housing in the Mother City

From Salt River to the city centre, Divercity’s inclusive urban investment strategy is growing in Cape Town, reshaping rental housing through affordability, central locations and long-term impact.

Fresh off the success of The Herringbone in Salt River, where 200 apartments were fully let before launch and the building filled within a record three months, Divercity is extending its Cape Town portfolio with another landmark development: 23 Lower Long Street.

This new 12-storey mixed-use project will deliver 418 affordable, rental-only apartments, with ground-floor retail activating the development at street level. Strategically located in the CBD, just 200 meters from the Cape Town International Convention Centre and a kilometer from the V&A Waterfront, 23 Lower Long is designed to bring quality urban living within reach, while building the city’s next great neighbourhood.

Developed in partnership with Ingenuity Property Investments, the original landowner, this joint venture brings together deep local insight and Divercity’s proven multifamily rental model to deliver well-managed, well-located housing for the long term. Construction is well underway, and completion is expected at the end of 2026.

“Cape Town is a city of opportunity and to realise that opportunity, you need affordable, stable housing in the heart of it,”says our CEO, Carel Kleynhans. “Our vision is to build a future where location, connection and community are the baseline.”

And this is just the beginning. Based on keen demand, we plan to further diversify Divercity’s residential offering in the Western Cape.

Barlow Park: a model for multifamily excellence

While we expand in Cape Town, we continue to build on our robust foundation in Johannesburg. Phase 2 of Barlow Park Lifestyle Estate was completed on 1 June. It has enjoyed excellent leasing, bringing the entire mixed-use precinct close to full occupancy. Demand continues to be strong, which is a clear signal that South Africans are increasingly choosing to live in well-located, secure, amenity-rich, rental residential communities.

The industry has taken note, too. At the 2025 Reside Awards in July, Barlow Park took top honours in two categories, winning:

Residential Development of the Year: for redefining South Africa’s multifamily rental housing through inclusive, dynamic, community-focused urban development.
Multifamily Residential Development of the Year: for its delivery of purpose-built, professionally managed rental homes with long-term quality and stability for residents.

In addition, Ithemba Property Management, part of Divercity Property Group, won Residential Property Management Company of the Year, recognising their operational excellence and tenant-first approach.

What’s next?

When we invest in cities, and in the people who live in them, we invest in the future South Africa deserves.

As we scale our presence in the Mother City, the success of Herringbone and the energy around 23 Lower Long give us confidence in Cape Town’s potential. Combined with the continued growth of precincts like Barlow Park, our excellently performing income-producing portfolio and our expanding national development pipeline, Divercity remains committed to transforming urban centres into resilient, inclusive communities.

Previous Posts Investing in More Than Buildings: Divercity’s Mandela Day Impact

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services.

Our impact

Over the next five 5 years, Divercity expects to construct more than 10,000 new and green affordable residential units in centrally-located neighbourhoods, expanding housing options close to economic opportunity for low- and middle-income households. Construction of the new residential units will help address the growing housing deficit and issues of spatial segregation in South Africa.

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to develop reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all

Our impact

Divercity is providing housing in locations that are connected to existing infrastructure, such as healthcare, schools, jobs and parks. This serves to reinforce accessible and equitable cities, as well as strives to break the destructive pattern of South Africa’s apartheid infrastructure and planning.

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related disasters

Our impact

More compact cities – enabled through the kind of development that Diversity advances – are associated with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions, better land-use, and energy and resource efficiency, based on research 1 we’ve done with the Green Building Council South Africa (GBSCA) and Arup. Divercity has a commitment to minimising greenhouse gas emissions and is already supporting climate change mitigation through a range of measures, such as rooftop solar arrays, energy and water efficient design in all of our buildings and EDGE rating of all new developments.

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to ensure equitable and quality to pre-primary, primary and secondary education and lifelong learning

Our impact

Through our Ithemba Upliftment Foundation, we are contributing to early childhood development, enabling hundreds of young children to receive quality education at Daycare Centres in our precnits. This is in addition to the widened access to formal education facilities that are part of our developments, and our efforts in supporting lifelong learning through supporting adult education.

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, renewable and modern energy sources

Our impact

As the cost of renewable energy generation capacity becomes more accessible and affordable, we are integrating these technologies more broadly across our residential portfolio. Divercity is focussed on eco-responsible housing as a viable means to contribute to sustainable and environmentally friendly urban development – through rigorous adherence to green building standards, including the use of energy efficient LED lights, rooftop solar arrays, energy efficient hot water generation and energy efficient building design.

By 2030, the UN’s goal is to encourage and promote effective public, private and civil society partnerships to attain the global goals

Our impact

Our partnerships empower us to champion progressive policy that supports sustainable development. One impactful example of such a partnership is our work with Green Building Council South Africa (GBSCA) and Arup, the global multi-disciplinary firm, on a research project on the enormous environmental and economic costs of the current dynamic of urban sprawl in Johannesburg. Through this project, we developed actionable recommendations for policymakers, investors and other stakeholder groups.
You can read more about the research project, titled: Does location matter? here.