Almost all the Western Cape’s country towns have experienced an upswing in interest from potential buyers this year, some living literally at the other end of the country in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. However nowhere is this upsurge in interest more apparent than in Robertson, says Johanna van Wyk, co-franchisee for the Rawson Property Group’s Robertson franchise alongside Andre van Niekerk.
“Almost daily we now field enquiries from people from all over South Africa. The general theme of what they have to say is that they are interested in living here because they want a more peaceful, crime-free and rural lifestyle. In addition, they say they want to live in a province, as they see it, where the administration is still satisfactory, the schools and hospitals are coping and there are some business opportunities awaiting those who are not yet ready for retirement. For people thinking along these lines, Robertson fits the bill in every way.”
The good news, said van Wyk, is that the value for money in Robertson property is excellent these days.
“We can give buyers spacious 300 m2 to 400 m2 three or four bedroom homes on 1,000 m2 to 3,000 m2 plots (many with small orchards, vegetable gardens and vineyards) at anything from R1,2 million to R3 million. There are, of course, more expensive homes on the market – but in my view those priced below R2 million represent, in almost every case, real bargains.”
The less good news, said van Wyk, is that the majority of today’s buyers are hoping to find homes below R1 million.
“We are,” she said, “selling one or two homes in this price bracket every month. They are usually sited in town and, although attractive, may not have that stamp of quality which is so evident in many of the larger, more upmarket Robertson homes, some of which have been here for 50 to 60 years or even longer.”
At the moment Andre van Niekerk focuses on selling farms and small holdings throughout the area. The small holdings today, he said, are usually priced up to R4 million and the farms from R4 million to R50 million or more. Van Niekerk said that Breede River frontage is what many developers are looking for today, but regrettably there are relatively few such properties available – although, not too long ago, he did sell such a property with 15 hectares, but no home on it, for R2,2 million.
“I hate to say it,” he said, “but it remains true in my opinion that in the agricultural sector here the value for money obtainable is even better than that in the housing sector, which is, in our view, very good indeed and making any buy here likely to be a steadily appreciating asset over the next five to ten years.”
