When a residential property franchise which has been in operation for only seven months comes fourth on an estate agency group’s national commission earnings table, it is almost certainly a sign not that only that the team operating there is confident but that the area itself is thriving.
This was the position that the Rawson Property Group’s
Cape Town CBD franchise, owned and run by Alisdair Crofton, found itself in during the month of July.
“There has,” said Crofton recently, “been a great deal of publicity on how strong the call for homes in the City Bowl has become. Whether we are selling in the city centre, on the Foreshore or in Bo Kaap, Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht, Higgovale, Gardens, Vredehoek or Zonnebloem, we are usually able to sign up a buyer on any correctly priced property in less than 21 days.”
In some cases, added Crofton, a sale has gone through in three or four days. Although the franchise has had its share of multimillionaire clients able to buy homes at well over R10 million, the majority of City Bowl buyers are looking at homes priced between R3 million and R6 million and although some would like to go lower than R3 million there are very few freestanding homes below that price. The demand, he said, is especially strong for freehold homes in this price bracket.
“We have previously commented on the rising prices in sectional title units,” said Crofton, “but the prices of the freestanding units are even more impressive.”
“Today’s City Bowl buyer,” he said, “is motivated by the realization that this area, in addition to being on the doorstep of the CBD and therefore ideal for commuters who hate wasting time, is also only five to ten minutes’ drive from the Clifton and Camps Bay beaches, the V&A Waterfront and the mountains – both Table Mountain and Lions Head. There are not many places in the world where you can live equally close to all that a sophisticated city centre has to offer and at the same time be right next to magnificent mountain parks.”
The growing popularity of the area, said Crofton, has, as one would expect, pushed up prices despite the average middle class South African’s increasing difficulty in making ends meet.
“We have,” he said, “seen such cases as in Vredehoek where a home bought in 2002 at just over R1 million is now selling very close to R4,2 million. Another in Oranjezicht bought in 1994 for R400,000 sold earlier this year for R5,5 million. A 82 m2 Wembley Square apartment bought in 2004 for R700,000 has recently resold at R2,5 million. It is not unusual for apartments in this complex to fetch prices of R30,000 per m2. The price rises in most areas since late 2012 have been around and in some cases in excess of 10% per annum.”
Although property investors keep a close eye on what is happening here and buy-to-let investors are thick on the ground, it is still possible, said Crofton, to come across ‘little gems’ which in most cases are smaller, possibly older properties and relatively inexpensive by City Bowl standards. Such homes, he said, usually offer great potential for upgrading, the most commonly found in the peripheral areas like Vredehoek, which as a result is seeing a rapid improvement in its image.
Predicting the future, said Crofton, is not something he enjoys doing, however, he is convinced that the price rises seen so far have by no means yet peaked and still have a considerable way to run.
“I can easily imagine a situation in the not too distant future in which the average price of a three bedroom Tamboerskloof or Oranjezicht home is around R10 million,” he said, “and I have yet to meet a City Bowl buyer who is not satisfied with the performance of his purchase.”
