Although many Capetonians are hardly aware of it, there are expansive residential precincts in the sprawling central Cape Flats – and many of these are relatively new as they were initiated only 20 to 30 years ago.
It has been calculated that Blue Downs/Malibu Village area along with Eerste Rivier today has 26,000 homes altogether. The Blue Downs satellite suburbs are Malibu Village, Fountain Head, Brentwood Park, The Conifers, Tuscany Glen and Hillcrest Heights, while at Eerste River there are over 15 separate areas of this type, all slightly lower priced but many of them long-established.
Maurice and Carol Mullam, now going into their sixth year as the Rawson Property Group’s franchisees for this area, reported recently that although from the start these residential precincts were designed to house lower and middle income buyers, the market today is performing in very much the same way as that of the more expensive areas like Rondebosch, Claremont and Wynberg.
The platform seen there has to a large extent been duplicated here, said Carol Mullam. Demand now exceeds supply and the stock is therefore far harder to come by, even when the number of would-be buyers prepared to pay rather higher than they had originally thought necessary, increases month by month. Furthermore, investors and speculators looking for capital appreciation or buy-to-let opportunities are also now being seen again in the area and prices are rising at ± 10% per annum.
Again the area is similar to many others, said Maurice Mullam, in that the number one factor limiting really fast sales (apart from the stock shortages) is the large number of potential buyers who do not qualify for bonds.
“Many people here,” he said, “have household incomes of R15,000 to R40,000 and they certainly live fairly ostentatious luxury-orientated lifestyles. However, they are often rejected by the banks because of some fairly minor credit slipup that may have occurred two or more years ago. The banks’ investigatory methods are these days so thorough that they probably pick up 90% of credit defaults and remedying these is not easy.”
Although, as described, demand has pushed up prices, these central Cape Flats suburbs, said Maurice Mullam, still offer excellent value, with prices as low as R400,000 for a two bedroom house (only six months ago it might have been R350,000) and as high as R1,2 million for a good family home in, say, Blackheath.
“Most of our enquiries,” added Carol Mullam, “are for homes in the R400,00 to R800,000 bracket and any correctly priced home brought onto the market here will usually sell within a few days.”
Apart from affordability, the factors making these houses so sought after, said Carol Mullam, are their very convenient position close to many Cape Flats industrial nodes (like Blackheath) and that they are within reasonable commuting distance of Bellville, Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Parow, Goodwood and the Cape Town CBD, which is just 16 km away.
Particularly attractive to those with children, said Maurice Mullam, are the good schools in the area – he mentioned Forest Heights and Tuscany Glen High in particular. The pupils of these, he said, have been achieving good results in matric – and there is even one art school here at Eerste Rivier.
Almost 90% of the home buyers in this area are state, provincial and municipal employees. Their jobs are, therefore, thought to be secure and certainly this factor helps them to qualify for bonds. Many also get a government subsidy on the home, which in itself is an incentive to buy.
Looking ahead, the Mullams said that with demand continuing to be strong and with the supply still not meeting the demand, the whole of the Blue Downs/Malibu Village/Eerste Rivier precinct is a very sound place in which to invest, the value appreciation being at this stage almost guaranteed.
For further information contact Maurice and Carol Mullam on 021 909 0461
