In the North Riding and Noordhang precincts, sited 23 km north of the centre of Johannesburg, estate agents have been achieving an average of 23 sales per month this year, most of which are being bought by buyers in the 23 to 38 year old age bracket.
The area, which now has 6357 homes in all, has traditionally been seen by buyers as the less expensive alternative – and possibly a step up to Bryanston and Dainfern. Demand here, says Taryn Cilliers, Rawson Properties’ franchisee for this area, continues to be very strong. Nevertheless, prices are not yet rising fast and are likely to remain close to their current satisfactory low levels for at least another six months. (Her agency, which on average achieves 55% of the market share each month, is the only estate agency to have a local office in the area, and is the leading performer here. Rawson North Riding’s reputation is being enhanced by a highly active, ongoing community involvement programme, such as area clean-ups, etc.)
Cilliers says: “Homes in this area remain highly affordable by South African middle class standards. The bulk of the homes we sell are in the R600,000 to R1,7 million bracket, while in Sharonlea and Olivedale they are in the R1,1 million to R1,8 million bracket.”
Right now, she said, all estate agents in the area have insufficient stock to meet the demand and this means that any fairly priced property will always sell fast.
“In 2006/2007,” she said, “we saw prices rise by just on 20%. Now, year-on-year, they are moving up at 7% to 9%, a good performance considering the state of today’s market.”
This week, she added, her franchise has just achieved the full asking price on two sales, an indication that prices are firming up and price rises will speed up in the year ahead.
Rawson Properties North Riding’s biggest recent success to date has been the Blandford Mews sectional title scheme for which Rawson secured the sole mandate and sold all 34 units in under six months. Prices were pitched from R689, 000 to R1 million – affordable by any standards.
Regrettably, a six month delay was caused by the Department of Land and Fisheries which overlooked the rezoning approval, although the City Council had already okayed it. This called for an ‘incision’, a process which caused unavoidable delays. However, the 1st of September 2012 saw handovers begin. The buyers, said Cilliers, are highly satisfied with the standard of the building and top of the range finishes.
The area has recently been given its first government and private schools, the private school being Cooper College which now serves grades 00 to 02 - but which plans to expand year-by-year.
Throughout North Riding and Northgate, said Cilliers, demand for rental property is even stronger than for sale properties.
“Rents,” she said, “are now on average R2, 000 up on last year, typical rentals now being R8, 000 to R10, 000 per month – again very satisfactory considering the purchase prices of the properties. This has boosted buys in the area by investors, looking at the lucrative rental market.”
Rawson Properties North Riding has a portfolio of 150 managed rental homes and plans to grow this year-by-year.
“North Riding and Noordhang offer excellent buy-to-let opportunities,” said Cilliers, “as we can almost guarantee investors a 85% return from day one.”
Summing up her remarks, Cilliers said that, being so excellently placed, North Riding, Olivedale and Sharonlea, today probably represent as good a residential property purchase as is possible to find anywhere in South Africa today.
