The prediction that the mega-development, Royal Ascot, situated along the western boundary of the Milnerton Race Course and launched some ten years ago, would be an immense success has, it seems, now been completely fulfilled. Esme Vladislavich, the Rawson Property Group’s co-franchisee (with her husband Marc and new shareholder Tracey Bock) for the Milnerton and surrounding suburbs, said last week that her team selling at Royal Ascot are notching up three to four sales per month. Almost any correctly priced sectional title or freehold homes, she said, are sold within a matter of days, not weeks. Some, she said, have even been signed for and wrapped up before her sales agents have had time to put it onto the Rawson Property Group’s website.
Homes at Royal Ascot include freehold units, townhouses (both single and double storey) and sectional title apartments. The townhouses and sectional title units come in a variety of styles: Tuscan, Cape Cod and Cape Village. In general they sell from R800,000 to R1,8 million – although three have recently been sold by the Rawson team at over R2 million.
“With our well positioned offices in “The Paddocks” retail centre, which is sited next to Royal Ascot’s entrance,” said Vladislavich, “we are in an ideal position to serve this whole precinct and are, in fact, the top sellers in it.”
The factors which she said make Royal Ascot so popular are its tight double-level security measures, its position only 12 km from some of the best private schools on the West Coast, its close proximity to the new Rapid Transport bus service (which delivers Milnerton passengers to the CBD in under half an hour) and the ‘superior’ design and landscaping of all the original developments.
Although Royal Ascot leads the field in demand, said Vladislavich, the rest of Milnerton, including the less expensive areas such as Tygerhof, Sanddrift, Rugby, Brooklyn and Ysterplaat, are also selling at an exceptionally good rate. The Rawson Property Group’s team is achieving between seven and eight sales per month here.
“Sectional title units in these areas,” said Vladislavich, “can be priced at anything from R600,000 to R1,2 million and freehold homes are mostly in the R1,5 million to R2,5 million bracket. Certainly these are the ones which are most in demand – and our sales here are definitely helped by the fact that, with the help of Rawson Finance, we are achieving an 80% plus success rate with bond applications.”
Where stock is short, as is the case throughout the Greater Milnerton area, traditionally the rental market takes off and that is happening here. This Rawson Property Group franchise has some 300 rental properties on its books and signs up leases on a managed or unmanaged basis at the rate of around eight per month. These can have monthly rentals at anything from R4,000 to R11,000, said Vladislavich, and demand is equally strong in all price categories.
Will the current boom conditions in sales and rents continue?
Vladislavich said that as long as interest rates stay down “it is simply illogical” not to be buying property in high demand areas such as this. Absa, she said, have warned of a slight slowdown in year-on-year growth, but it seems likely that it will continue at at least 8% per annum for the foreseeable future.
