Brynn Tomes, CEO and founder of the BIP group which is partnered by Rawson Properties’ Sea Point franchise and which specializes in short terms rentals for luxury sectional title and freestanding homes on the Atlantic Seaboard, reports that, despite the serious global economic problems, demand for the type of accommodation his group rents out, to industry and finance moguls and super-rich European and American holidaymakers, has been so good that in the coming summer months they could well be facing a serious stock shortage.
Cape Town, with its congenial weather and lifestyle, says Tomes, is seen by many foreigners as the ideal base from which to expand into Africa and they are increasingly evident in the Cape Town rental market. Being mostly senior executives that are accustomed to comfortable homes, they tend, he says, to want ‘only the best’ and are prepared to pay anything from R1, 200 to R120, 000 per day for their units. (The latter price is not a thumb suck: it was achieved on a Clifton home and included such extras as a car, a chauffeur, a butler, a cook and housemaids. Rentals of R30, 000 to R40, 000 per day have been regularly achieved over the past years, says Tomes.)
Tomes’s alliance with the Rawson Properties Sea Point/Atlantic Seaboard franchise (owned by Sandy Soller and run by Alisdair Crofton) has enabled their rental manager, Gary Freeman, to pass on leads for expensive short term rentals to Tomes, who in turn introduces them to clients looking for longer term rentals.
“Our opinion is that the top level rental market is just now feeling its strength and that it will only grow from here onwards,” comments Crofton.
“From a sales viewpoint this is also good news because many of the upcountry and overseas tenants, seeing the potential for excellent returns in this market, decide to become property owners, using Brynn Tomes and ourselves to secure them short term rentals when they are not in occupation themselves.”
