Bill Rawson, Chairman of the Rawson Property Group, has drawn attention to the latest property sales figures captured by the Western Cape Propstats service. These, says Rawson, show that in the traditionally low sales month of December, some R843 million worth of homes were sold. The figure, says Rawson, is very satisfactory for the holiday period where, traditionally, sales drop by 25% - the monthly average for property sales in 2012 was in fact just over R1 billion.
“It’s also gratifying to report,” said Rawson, “that on the current indicators, January sales for 2013 were exceptional, surpassing last year’s average with a figure of R1,1 billion and so far February is looking promising.”
Rawson also drew attention to the fact that, in November and December, significantly high values were achieved for such homes as one in Bishopscourt (R37 million) and for a stand in Big Bay (R4, 45 million). In November two properties sold at over R50 million, one in Bantry Bay and one, a penthouse suite, in the One&Only hotel in the V&A Waterfront.
These figures, said Rawson, are complemented by the sales figures for upmarket Cape Peninsula properties towards the end of last year. These, he says, show that in December seven properties were sold at prices in excess of R10 million.
Also significant, said Rawson, is the fact that in the last two months of 2012, some properties sold at big discounts on the asking price – many achieving between 25 and 51%.
Looking at 2012 as a whole, says Rawson, 106 Cape Peninsula properties were sold at over R10 million and, here again, roughly a third were sold within 10% of the asking price.
These figures, said Rawson, are not yet bullish enough to justify price increases for upmarket property in the Cape Peninsula but investors can take heart from the fact that in the majority of cases the excessive discounts regularly achieved, which were almost standard 18 months ago, are unlikely to be as prevalent by the end of 2013.
