It is now some eight months since Craig Gilfillan, Rawson Properties’ franchisee for Observatory, officially took over the group’s Pinelands franchise – which he had for several months prior to that helped the Head Office to manage.
“Since being involved at Pinelands,” said Gilfillan recently, “we have discovered that it is a suburb from which most residents are extremely reluctant ever to leave: we hear people saying that they were born there and would like to die there – even newcomers to the area tend to say that this is where they will stay for the rest of their lives.”
This very evident stability, said Gilfillan, means that stock shortages will almost always be evident there – there are very few get-in, get-out speculators in the suburb. In addition, along with the fact that the area also does not have many distressed buyers, the stability of the area means that prices here tend also to be stable and figures show that they have been less affected by the downturn. According to the Lightstone Survey, they are now rising in line with inflation, i.e. at about 6% per annum.
Right now, said Gilfillan, demand is strongest at Pinelands in the R1,5 million to R2 million bracket, the more luxurious homes, i.e. above R3 million, tending to stick.
Gilfillan’s local agent, Pauline Hareb, recently sold a home with three/four bedrooms, living and family rooms, a pool and an outdoor braai for R 1, 7 million. The asking price was R1,795,000.
“However one gauges house values,” said Gilfillan, “property trend-watchers will see this as an excellent buy at a very reasonable price.”
In the upper bracket of Pinelands homes, he said, his franchise is at the moment able to offer one really good buy: a double storey family home with a large lounge/dining room, a communal room and a separate cottage with three bedrooms. The fact that there are two homes on one erf, said Gilfillan, makes this ideal for dual living or for partial renting out – and he estimates the rent on the separate cottage could be R8,000 per month, making the total package a great proposition at an asking price of R2,8 million.
