The size of the area covered by the big Cape Town suburb of Durbanville is seldom appreciated by those who live elsewhere, says Louis Schoeman, Rawson Properties franchisee for the area. Durbanville, he says, covers at least 20 separate zones including: Durbanville itself (the central section of the village), Stellenberg, Stellenryk, Richwood, Eversdal, Durbanville Hills, Kenridge, Vygeboom, Amanda Glen, Sonstraal, Sonstraal Heights, Goedemoed, Durmonte, Vierlanden, Schoongezicht, D’urbanvale, Aurora, Vergezicht and Rosendal. In this vast area there are no less than 23 000 homes, some 12 schools (both private and state), multi-cultural churches and a huge variety of retail and sporting facilities, including a horse race track, six gymnasia and a golf course.
Durbanville, says Schoeman, has at least five characteristic features to it that house hunters value - it has a warmer, dryer, less windy climate than the Cape Peninsula suburbs; it has retained its pleasant, relaxed village atmosphere, despite moving into the 21st century; it has exceptionally supportive and welcoming residents with many community organizations, often church-related; it borders on at least seven vineyards as well as extensive farmlands; and it offers relatively quick and easy freeway access to Cape Town, Bellville, the Peninsula and the entire winelands.
“In view of these characteristics,” said Schoeman, “it is generally regarded as the best of the northern suburbs and the one in which most people would like to live.”
“Durbanville,” he said, “remains highly attractive to potential buyers and there has, for some time now, been strong demand for both homes to buy and rental accommodation.”
The area, he says, can offer homes at anything from R550 000 (for an apartment in Richwood) to R17 million (for a well-developed small holding with an attractive home.)
However, the big demand, says Schoeman, has been in the R1, 3 million to R2, 5 million bracket and in this price range Rawson and other agencies have pre-qualified buyers lining up in droves. When such homes do come on to the market (provided that they are at the market-related price), says Schoeman, they almost always sell within four to six weeks.
From an estate agent’s point of view, the current situation is not entirely satisfactory, for the simple reason that Schoeman (and every other estate agent with whom he has recently talked) have got far too little stock.
“Exactly why this has come about is difficult to understand,” he says, “but it is probably due to the conservative nature of the people in our area and their marked reluctance to leave. Winter also traditionally leads to a Cape hibernation in residential sales, before spring ushers in an increase in sales activity and this too has played a part in keeping homes off the market.”
This time last year, the difficulties experienced by potential buyers in obtaining loans would have been another reason for the low sales - but this year, he says, the banks have eased up on their criteria and Rawson Finance reports that in Durbanville around 70% of all applications have been successful.
“What is more,” said Schoeman, “the market has a fair number of cash buyers, some able to pay high prices. Recently, for example, Rawson agent Lynne Celentano sold a magnificent 600m² five bedroom house on a gentleman’s estate overlooking rolling pasture land in D’urbanville to a cash buyer for around R5, 7 million.”
In the circumstances, it might seem odd that Schoeman plans to increase his agent numbers from eight currently to 15-18 and he expects to achieve this in 24 months. However, he says, there are good reasons for doing this: firstly, it will enable him to give total coverage of his widespread territory and secondly, he is confident that the market has now bottomed out, is turning up and will show slow but constant growth.
“Throughout last year and the early parts of this year,” said Schoeman, “we saw almost no growth in prices but now there is on-going strong demand and the stock shortages will, I believe, lead to price rises of 5-7% in the next 12 months.”
Significantly increased returns, said Schoeman, have already been seen in rentals and this is traditionally a prelude to house price increases.
Right now with interest rates at an all-time low, adds Schoeman, and with Durbanville houses still 10-20% below the peak prices of 2007, it makes no sense at all for potential buyers to be holding back.
“In addition to all the attractions of the area already mentioned,” he said, “Durbanville now offers more value per Rand than any of the Cape Peninsula suburbs. Gardens, on average are, almost twice the size of those of Peninsula homes and floor areas roughly 40% bigger.”
Examples on his stock list of this, said Schoeman, are:
- An affordable 93m² home in Rosedale Estate with three bedrooms, a fully fitted kitchen with attractive wooden counter tops, a fairly spacious garden and secure off-street parking for two motor cars. This home is priced at around R995 000. A similar home in one of the ‘better’ Cape Town suburbs, says Schoeman, could easily be priced at over R1, 5 million.
- A 276m² home with 108m² garden in Vierlanden. This home has four bedrooms, a spacious patio, a swimming pool and a double garage. It is listed on the Rawson stock list at R2 195 000.
- The already mentioned magnificent 600m² five bedroom country home which has indoor and outdoor braais, a fully equipped gourmet kitchen, a five car garage and a swimming pool. This home was recently sold for around R5, 7 million.
“No more luxurious a home could be found anywhere in Durbanville - and to buy anything which even vaguely compares to this home, one would have to look to Fresnaye or even Clifton,” said Schoeman, “in these areas a home of this quality would probably cost double of what was paid here.”
