Anyone looking for a Johannesburg precinct where there is an exceptionally wide range of house prices, from R350,000 to R16 million, should take the time to visit Northcliff. This vast and sprawling suburb in fact consists of some 11 separately named areas, including Quellerina, Fairland, Berario, Bergbron, Windsor, Robindale, Robin Hills, Ferndale, Fontainebleau, Malanshof and parts of Randpark.
The majority of homes here are priced from R800,000 to R3,5 million and the fastest and most regular sales take place around the R2,5 million mark, although there is also exceptionally strong demand below R800,000 in certain areas.
Petronella van der Merwe, the Manager of the Rawson Property Group’s Northcliff franchise, which is owned by Jan Oberholzer, said that by the end of July their franchise had 18 deals on the table and of these she expected at least 80% to qualify for the necessary finance. Several other Rawson Johannesburg franchises and agents went along with van der Merwe in saying that there had been a marked and noticeable upswing in demand in the last three months and although this is difficult to account for, it has been very welcome.
At Northcliff, said van der Merwe, this has already brought about a 5% rise in prices and these rises, she predicted, will continue into 2014.
“Right now,” she said, “we are inundated with qualified buyers – the only challenge is to find enough stock. One has to appreciate that our middle class buyers are usually in secure well-paid jobs, the security of which does more or less guarantee that they will receive a bond.”
