There are, says Craig Gilfillan, the Rawson Property Group’s franchisee for the Cape Town suburb of Observatory, and who also covers Thornton and Pinelands, good reasons why he and his manager are now on the lookout for more estate agents for Thornton and Pinelands.
“Most precincts which have become high demand areas in which the call for homes is far greater than the stock available to supply it – and in these situations price rises can be guaranteed, especially when, as here, there is very little vacant land left for developments,” says Gilfillan.
Thornton, says Gilfillan, is reported by the analysts Lightstone (who work with Deeds Office figures) as having 1,041 freehold homes, 185 sectional title units and 70 Home Owners Associations. The average price of a sectional title unit here is now R450,000 and the price range on the more popular freehold homes varies from R1 million to R1,6 million.
These prices, as well as the suburb’s position, said Gilfillan, have resulted in Thornton becoming increasingly attractive and affordable to the growing band of upwardly mobile ambitious lower middle class Capetonians.
“Many of these,” he said, “see Thornton as more desirable and well positioned — being only 12 km from the city and right next to the thriving Epping Industrial.”
Many people buying here, said Gilfillan, have migrated from Goodwood, Kensington, Grassy Park, Athlone and Mitchells Plain and in most cases feel a sense of achievement in having done so.
“Thornton has, too, the big advantage of having its own primary and secondary schools and is home to the respected College of Cape Town, which provides practical building and civil engineering and mechanical engineering courses.”
All property in Thornton, predicted Gilfillan, will experience value rises of between 9% and 12% in the coming year. This, therefore, is a very good place in which to invest, he says.
Pinelands, he added, is, obviously, considerably more expensive – the average price of a sectional title unit here is R734,000 and a freehold home R2,123,000 – and the area can and does supply homes valued up to R4 million or more.
“The important point to grasp about Pinelands,” said Gilfillan, “is that, while offering much the same standard of housing and perhaps even better recreational, sporting and retail facilities than Rondebosch, Claremont and Rosebank, its homes are significantly (perhaps as much as 50%) less expensive than those in these sought after prestigious suburbs.
“Pinelands,” Gilfillan reminds us, “was in the late 1940s and early 1950s the first of the Garden Cities to be developed and in this and every one of their subsequent developments residents today benefit from the then-revolutionary concepts of greening — the provision of open spaces and well laid out, resident friendly landscapes and boulevards complemented by ample sports facilities and retail centres with ample parking.
“There is quite possibly no other Cape Town suburb that ‘works’ as well as Pinelands does,” said Gilfillan, “and that is one reason why local residents are usually reluctant to leave.”
In both Thornton and Pinelands, said Gilfillan, the lack of sales stock coupled to the high demand have boosted rentals exponentially. In Pinelands today tenants will, on average, pay R5,500 per month for a two bedroom sectional title unit and anything from R10,000 to R20,000 for a home.
Asked if it is difficult to find estate agents to serve such popular areas, Gilfillan said that he receives many applications, but the drawback is that estate agents have to be self-supporting and able to get through the first five to six months during which time, no matter how successful they are initially, their revenue flow will just be kicking off.
“This is a difficulty,” said Gilfillan, “but I would encourage anybody with real ambition to sell property to see us because these are areas in which the future does look rosy.”
