Warehouses to Let in Pomona: What Is Driving Demand in 2026?
Warehouses to let in Pomona continue to attract logistics, distribution and industrial occupiers looking for efficient access to O.R. Tambo International Airport and Gauteng’s major transport network.
But Pomona’s appeal in 2026 is about more than being close to the airport.
From what we are seeing in the Johannesburg industrial market, businesses are becoming far more specific about what they need from warehouse space. Location remains important, but warehouse height, yard depth, truck access, loading configuration, power, security and the total cost of occupation are increasingly determining which properties make a shortlist.
Pomona is well positioned because it can meet many of these requirements across a surprisingly broad range of warehouse sizes.
Market insight by Divan Binneman, Head of Industrial | JHB Broking at Galetti Corporate Real Estate.
Why Warehouses to Let in Pomona Continue to Attract Demand
Pomona has developed into a serious warehousing and logistics node within the wider Kempton Park industrial market.
Its location alongside the R21 places occupiers within the O.R. Tambo logistics ecosystem while providing access north towards Pretoria and south into the broader East Rand highway network.
That connectivity matters when you are moving stock every day.
For a logistics operator, being a few kilometres closer to the right interchange can affect delivery schedules, fuel usage, driver hours and fleet utilisation. When those movements are repeated hundreds or thousands of times over the duration of a lease, property location becomes an operating-cost decision rather than simply a property decision.
There is also substantial infrastructure behind this location advantage.
Airports Company South Africa describes O.R. Tambo International Airport as Africa’s largest and busiest airport and states that it has capacity to facilitate approximately 650,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. The City of Ekurhuleni’s long-term Aerotropolis strategy similarly identifies logistics, inter-modal connectivity and development around the airport as central to the region’s economic positioning.
From an industrial property perspective, Pomona sits directly in the path of that logistics activity.
The City of Ekurhuleni has previously identified the R21 corridor and Pomona specifically for airport-related warehouses and light industrial uses, while developments including Riverfields and Plumbago form part of the broader Aerotropolis implementation programme.
That planning context helps explain why so much modern logistics stock has been developed around the node.
What We Are Seeing in the Pomona Warehouse Market
One of Pomona’s strengths is the variety of space now available.
This is no longer a market made up only of large logistics boxes.
At the time of review in September 2026, Galetti was marketing more than 70 leasing opportunities across the Pomona search area, including industrial properties ranging from a few hundred square metres to facilities exceeding 20,000m².
That depth of stock creates options for very different types of occupiers.
A regional distributor looking for 500m² to 1,500m² has different requirements to a national logistics operator seeking 10,000m² or more. Pomona increasingly accommodates both ends of that spectrum.
It also means tenants should avoid thinking about a single “Pomona rental”.
Asking rentals vary materially according to building age, specification, size, warehouse efficiency and location within the node.
Current Galetti stock illustrates this clearly. An 844m² warehouse at 39 Pomona Road is being marketed at R75/m², while several large, modern logistics facilities are being marketed at approximately R95/m².
That does not mean one is expensive and the other is cheap.
It means they are solving different operational requirements.
Warehouses to Let in Pomona Are Becoming More Specialised
The biggest change we see when dealing with industrial occupiers is that sophisticated tenants are looking beyond square metres.
Ten years ago, a property search could often start with location, size and rental.
Today, the brief tends to be much more operational.
Businesses want to understand how many trucks can move through the site, whether superlinks can turn comfortably, how deep the yard is, what the floor can carry, how high they can rack, where the roller shutter doors are positioned and how much of the gross lettable area is actually productive warehouse space.
That is particularly important in Pomona because some of the newer facilities have been designed specifically around large-scale logistics.
For example, Galetti is currently marketing a 24,850m² high-specification logistics facility in Pomona at the R21/R23 interchange. The property is approximately 9km from O.R. Tambo International Airport and is being marketed at R95/m².
Another 18,662m² logistics warehouse within the Riverfields precinct sits along the R21 and approximately 11.6km from the airport. It forms part of a new logistics-focused development and is also being marketed at R95/m².
These are not conventional industrial buildings with large floor plates added afterwards. They represent the type of purpose-built logistics stock increasingly associated with the R21 corridor.
Why Warehouse Specification Matters More Than Headline Rental
The first number most tenants look at is rental per square metre.
It is important, but in many industrial transactions it is not the number that ultimately determines value.
Consider two warehouses with identical gross lettable areas.
One may provide better height to eaves, a lower office ratio, deeper yards and more efficient loading. That facility could allow the occupier to store more pallets, move vehicles faster and dedicate a greater percentage of the property to revenue-producing operations.
The other building could carry a lower rental per square metre while requiring more floor area to achieve the same output.
For that reason, we increasingly look at cost per operational outcome, not simply cost per square metre.
This is particularly relevant for larger warehouses to let in Pomona, where a difference of only a few rand per square metre can translate into a substantial monthly figure, but warehouse efficiency can also generate significant savings elsewhere in the operation.
One current example is Plumbago 5 Phase 1, where Galetti is marketing a 10,737m² facility designed for high-volume warehousing operations at R95/m².
For an occupier assessing a facility of this scale, the discussion should therefore extend well beyond the R1.02 million advertised monthly rental.
The real due diligence is understanding how effectively that building supports the tenant’s operation over the full lease term.
Smaller Warehouses Still Play an Important Role in Pomona
The amount of large-scale development in Pomona can make the node appear to be focused exclusively on national distribution centres.
That is not the case.
There is substantial demand from smaller logistics operators, suppliers, e-commerce businesses, distributors and industrial users that need proximity to the airport and R21 but do not require a 10,000m² facility.
Galetti’s current Pomona industrial property portfolio includes options at approximately 342m², 396m², 400m², 420m², 500m², 684m², 721m², 844m², 1,000m² and above.
This stock is an important part of the node.
It allows growing businesses to secure a position in the same logistics ecosystem without carrying the overhead of a major distribution facility.
A good example is the 844m² warehouse at 39 & 40 Rokewood Street. At the time of writing it is being marketed at R63,300 per month, or R75/m², with warehouse and office accommodation on a secure industrial site.
For the right tenant, a property like this can make significantly more commercial sense than occupying a premium logistics facility with specifications the business does not actually need.
What Tenants Should Look for in a Warehouse to Rent in Pomona
When I assess warehouse options with an occupier, the objective is not to find the building with the longest specification sheet.
It is to find the building whose specification matches the operation.
For most businesses, I would focus on six areas:
- Access and truck circulation: Can the vehicles used by the business enter, turn, load and leave without creating bottlenecks?
- Warehouse height and storage efficiency: Does the property allow the required racking configuration and cubic storage capacity?
- Loading: Are there enough on-grade doors, docks or roller shutters for the expected daily throughput?
- Power: Is the available electrical supply appropriate for warehousing, manufacturing, refrigeration or other specialised operations?
- Warehouse-to-office ratio: Is the tenant paying for more administrative space than it needs?
- Total occupancy cost: What will rental, escalation, operating costs, utilities and property-specific requirements cost over the full lease term?
These considerations become even more important for large occupiers.
A warehouse may look ideal on an online listing but fail operationally once truck turning circles, dispatch volumes, yard congestion or future expansion are modelled properly.
The property search therefore needs to start with the business operation.
Pomona’s R21 Position Is Difficult to Ignore
There is a reason the R21 repeatedly comes up when discussing industrial property to rent in Pomona.
The freeway links the airport environment with major northern Gauteng markets and forms part of a broader strategic development corridor.
For distributors working across Johannesburg, Pretoria and the East Rand, that position can be particularly useful.
The airport also creates a concentration of complementary logistics activity around Kempton Park.
Air freight operators, couriers, distribution businesses, third-party logistics companies and suppliers all benefit from operating within an established industrial ecosystem rather than in isolation.
For certain businesses, proximity to O.R. Tambo is mission-critical.
For others, it is simply an additional benefit.
The important point is to establish how much that location advantage is actually worth to the operation before paying for it.
Pomona Is Not Only About Proximity to O.R. Tambo
It is easy to reduce Pomona’s property story to one phrase: “close to the airport”.
That undersells the node.
The bigger story is the combination of location and modern industrial development.
The City of Ekurhuleni’s Aerotropolis strategy explicitly uses inter-modal connectivity as an economic development tool, while Riverfields, Plumbago and other R21 corridor projects demonstrate how private industrial development has followed that strategic direction.
This has created a different type of warehouse market.
Rather than relying entirely on ageing industrial stock, businesses can access purpose-designed logistics properties alongside more conventional warehouses and smaller industrial units.
From a tenant’s perspective, that variety matters because it provides room to match the building more closely to the operation.
Is There Still Demand for Large Warehouses in Pomona?
Based on the level and type of stock being brought to market, Pomona remains firmly positioned for large-scale logistics requirements.
Galetti is currently marketing facilities of approximately 10,737m², 12,680m², 21,771m² and 24,850m² within the wider Pomona and R21 logistics market.
Other current market listings also show newly developed facilities with specifications such as 12.5-metre eaves, dock and on-grade loading, superlink access and large yards, reinforcing the level of logistics infrastructure being developed in the node.
That is important because large logistics users cannot simply occupy any large warehouse.
At this scale, the physical property needs to work as part of a supply chain.
Height, floors, yards, dispatch, sprinkler systems, security and highway connectivity all move from “nice to have” features to critical infrastructure.
Why Businesses Should Benchmark More Than One Pomona Warehouse
Even when a company has already decided on Pomona, I would rarely recommend negotiating on only one property.
There can be substantial differences between seemingly similar warehouses.
One building may offer better truck access. Another may provide a better rental structure. A third may require less tenant installation or provide greater expansion flexibility.
Having credible alternatives also improves the tenant’s negotiating position.
The goal is not necessarily to force landlords into the lowest possible rental. It is to understand the market well enough to negotiate a lease that reflects the property, the tenant’s covenant, the lease term and the commercial conditions prevailing at the time.
That is why the stock search is only one part of an industrial leasing process.
The real value comes from knowing which buildings deserve to be shortlisted and how the financial and operational differences compare.
Frequently Asked Questions About Warehouses to Let in Pomona
How much does a warehouse to rent in Pomona cost?
Warehouse rentals vary according to size, age, specification and location. Current Galetti listings reviewed in September 2026 include selected industrial properties at approximately R75/m², while several modern large-scale logistics facilities are being marketed at around R95/m². These are asking rentals and individual lease terms may differ.
Are there small warehouses to let in Pomona?
Yes. Pomona is not limited to big-box logistics facilities. Current listings include industrial units from approximately 342m² and 400m² upwards, as well as numerous properties between roughly 500m² and 2,000m².
Are there large logistics warehouses available in Pomona?
Yes. The current market includes facilities above 10,000m², with selected Galetti listings extending beyond 20,000m². These properties are typically aimed at major warehousing, logistics and distribution operations requiring modern loading and yard infrastructure.
Why is Pomona popular for logistics businesses?
The combination of the R21 corridor, proximity to O.R. Tambo International Airport and ongoing logistics-focused industrial development makes Pomona particularly relevant to warehousing and distribution companies. O.R. Tambo itself has annual cargo handling capacity of approximately 650,000 tonnes.
What should I check before leasing industrial property in Pomona?
Look beyond size and rental. Truck access, yard configuration, warehouse height, loading facilities, floors, power, office ratios, security, lease escalation and total occupancy costs should all be assessed against the operational requirements of the business.
Finding the Right Warehouse to Let in Pomona
Pomona has reached the point where businesses are not choosing it simply because it is “near the airport”.
They are choosing it because the node now provides a broad mix of industrial stock within one of Gauteng’s strategically important logistics corridors.
For occupiers, that creates opportunity, but it also makes proper property selection more important.
The right warehouse to let in Pomona should fit the operation first and the property brief second.
A lower rental does not automatically mean lower cost. A newer warehouse does not automatically mean better value. And a building with impressive specifications is not necessarily the right building if the occupier cannot use those specifications productively.
That is the type of assessment we make when working through a Pomona warehouse requirement.
If your business is looking for warehouses to let in Pomona, you can view current industrial and commercial properties available in Pomona or speak directly to Divan Binneman, Head of Industrial | JHB Broking, about your operational requirements.
Divan works across Johannesburg’s industrial property market, assisting businesses with warehouse searches, leasing strategy and industrial property transactions.
Divan Binneman
Head of Industrial | JHB Broking
071 643 8262
divan.binneman@galetti.co.za
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