Strandfontein, the 6,500 home precinct sited on the False Bay coastline between Mitchells Plain and Muizenberg East, has, says Theo Rainers, Rawson Properties franchisee for the area, always been seen as the more upmarket residential area to which many of the upwardly mobile residents of Mitchell’s Plain aspire to move.
“It is very definitely viewed as a step-up on the social scale and this is reflected in its slightly higher prices, the size of its homes, the quality of the designs and the size of the plots on which they stand. However, as we are still in a near-recessionary phase, today’s market is very definitely slanted in favour of the buyer – a fact some sellers still find difficult to accept,” says Rainers.
Back in 2006, before the global financial crash, Rainers was at one stage ranked in the top 10 of the Rawson Property Group’s national earnings scale competition.
Today, he says, buyers are still thick on the ground, but 50% to 60% are likely to be rejected for home loans by the banks on account of poor credit records and/or too high debt levels of one kind or another – despite the combined earnings of a husband and wife often being very satisfactory.
Today, the majority of his franchise’s sales are taking place in the R400, 000 to R800, 000 bracket. Most of the homes sold have three or four bedrooms and a small percentage are double storey. On occasions, Rainers can offer a home for sale for less than R400 000, but this happens only rarely. In some areas, such as Pelican Heights, the homes can be valued at over R1 million.
In general, says Rainers, because it is a buyers’ market, most of the buyers are in no hurry to make a decision and before they come to his office, over 50% will have done research on the Rawson website. Any idea that Internet research is limited to the more affluent classes, he says, is totally false.
Talking generally, says Rainers, the value for money in Strandfontein is exceptionally good and buyers should now be capitalizing on this.
“We have three or four bedroom homes in some of the more upmarket areas of Strandfontein that are still priced at around R700, 000. Up the line, in some of the suburbs closer to Cape Town, this sort of home would often be priced at double that.”
Because relatively few people are able to buy and/or to qualify for bonds – for reasons explained above – the rental market in Strandfontein, says Rainers, is flourishing. His franchise manages a portfolio of over 60 residential properties and is adding to them on a regular basis. On many of these, he says, the returns are 2% or 3% higher than in properties closer to the city. He can often get an 8% or 9% return from day one on less expensive units and, he assures potential clients, “like all good agents we are meticulous about checking credit and previous rental records”.
Some idea of the value obtainable in Strandfontein these days can be gained from the following properties currently being marketed by Theo Rainers’ team:
- A three bedroom, double and single storey home in Berlin Crescent. Priced at R780, 000, this home has a separate lounge/dining area, an entertainment room with a Jacuzzi, a fully fitted kitchen and a lock-up garage.
- A three bedroom home with built-in cupboards throughout the family areas, a fully fitted kitchen and a single garage. Sited in Matapan Road, the home is priced at R580, 000.
- A truly ‘affordable’ enclosed three bedroom home in Bayview priced at R495, 000. Bayview, comments Rainers, has traditionally always been able to offer buyers exceptionally good value entry level homes.
