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Johannesburg has, for decades, been South Africa’s undisputed commercial capital. However, in recent years, Cape Town has been snapping at its heels, and South Africa’s economic centre of gravity is shifting south.

The Common Sense has previously reported on how Cape Town has overtaken Johannesburg in the number of registered individual taxpayers, and how the growth of property values in Cape Town has outstripped Johannesburg, as well as South Africa’s other big cities.

Another indicator of how Cape Town is increasingly becoming South Africa’s commercial and economic hub is the level of construction activity in the two cities.

Construction activity is a reflection of investor confidence. Developers commit billions of rands to new buildings only when they believe there will be sustained demand and that their assets will remain valuable over time. This depends not only on economic opportunities, but also on factors such as reliable infrastructure, effective local government, service delivery, safety, and the ability of municipalities to maintain the urban environment. A city where investors believe the rules are stable and infrastructure will function is more likely to attract new capital.

And one way to determine the level of construction activity is how many cranes are in a particular city.

According to an index developed by Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), a global property and construction consultancy, economic confidence is shifting. Its RLB Crane Index, which tracks operating tower cranes as a proxy for development activity, shows Cape Town moving ahead of Johannesburg.

The chart below shows the number of cranes in Johannesburg and Cape Town between 2020 and 2025.

In early 2020, Johannesburg had 36 cranes compared with Cape Town’s 29. By 2025, that position had reversed, with Cape Town recording 43 cranes and Johannesburg 29.

The Crane Index is not a measure of overall economic activity in a city. It tracks operating tower cranes in selected areas covered by RLB’s research teams, making it a measure of construction momentum rather than a complete economic indicator. However, because developers only commit significant capital when they expect future demand and believe their investments will be protected, crane activity provides a useful proxy for investor confidence and urban economic momentum. On this measure, the direction of travel is clear: Cape Town has caught up with and overtaken Johannesburg, a situation that may be permanent unless Johannesburg has a drastic change in its quality of governance.