This may surprise residential property watchers but it is now an accepted fact, says Colin Kretschmer, manager of the Rawson Property Group’s Bothasig franchise, that people raised and educated in Bothasig very often opt to live there once they have left school and started work and residents who have lived there for some years are highly reluctant to leave. This is, says Kretschmer, one of the most stable residential populations in the Greater Cape Town area.
“What we are seeing now,” adds Quinton Dawson, the franchise’s long serving senior agent, “is a sharp rise in the number of local people brought up and now trying to buy here coupled with a readiness among existing home owners to upgrade their homes rather than to look for new homes elsewhere. This trend is one of several factors that have enabled Bothasig to lose its ‘cheap’ image - as one of the most affordable housing estates in the Northern Suburbs - and to become highly sought after, particularly by those from other suburbs who see this as a step upwards socially.”
Bothasig is, too, says Dawson, an area in which the main challenge facing estate agents, as in so many South African urban areas today, is a serious shortage of stock.
“At any one stage, we have numerous prospective buyers waiting in the wings to buy here and we could easily be selling ten homes per month if we had sufficient stock. What this means is that when we do a list a correctly priced home, it flies out of the door in two to five days and it also means that buyers either have to be patient or look elsewhere in the unhappy knowledge that few other Cape Town suburbs can match Bothasig for position, facilities, schools and above all affordability.”
One of the factors that makes Bothasig so sought after, says Kretschmer, is that when, in the early 1960s, development was initiated here, plans for the area included, almost entirely, freestanding homes on their own plots. Even today, of the 3,500 homes in the area only 3% are sectional title units.
Percentage wise, says Dawson, prices have been rising at very close to double digit figures (some analysts put them well above 10%) and it seems likely that in the year ahead 10 to 13% increases will take place. This year, he says, Bothasig prices broke through the R2 million barrier. However, it is still possible, although rare, in Bothasig to buy for as little as R900,000, although the bulk of sales are taking in the R1,3 million to R1,8 million bracket, with a special focus on the R1 million to R1,3 million category.
Property 24 recently published data showing that two and four bedroom homes are selling at R899,000 and at R2,100,000 and these figures more or less corroborate those produced by the Rawson Property Group. Although it has not significantly held sales back, it is a fact that Bothasig buyers often have difficulty in getting banks to give them bonds that match the market values in this suburb. This is particularly the case with the regional ‘prefabs’ which today still comprise some 20% of the total. However, here again ongoing renovations are making a huge difference with owners bricking up the exterior walls of their homes as well as upgrading them internally – some homes already had a combination of brick and demountable boarding.
On the rental front, says Kretschmer, the demand is even stronger than in sales and here, too, stock shortages are the number one problem. Many properties are signed for before they have even been advertised and without complications a new lease will be tied up within two days of the property being listed.
In Bothasig, says Kretschmer, rentals of freestanding homes can vary from R8,000 to R12,000 per month and in nearby Edgemead, they can go 10 to 20% higher.
“What all this adds up to,” says Kretschmer, “is that although it may be difficult to get a foothold in Bothasig, those who do so are sitting pretty with secure, steadily appreciating assets which are unlikely to be affected by most of the ups and downs in the economic and property markets.”
For further information contact Colin Kretschmer on 021 558 7102.
