When the Tyger Valley Waterfront in Cape Town was launched in 1996, a visiting American architectural journalist, Frank Nussbaum, commented that whoever had conceived the project had shown an amazing breadth of imagination and planning ability. Waterfronts worldwide, he said, have proven popular for residential and commercial property development, but to envisage a project such as the Tyger Valley Waterfront, sited in a disused quarry, had, he said, taken real insight and vision.
Last week Paul Abbott, the Rawson Property Group’s franchisee for the Tyger Valley Waterfront precinct, said that the entire area has now definitely “arrived”. The 1,000 sectional title units here are some of the most sought after in Cape Town today, by both buyers and tenants. Evidence of this, he said, is shown by the fact that initially, while almost all the apartments at the Waterfront were rented out, today 35% of them are owner-occupied – and this percentage is steadily increasing to the delight of buy-to-let investors, who always like to see a large proportion of owners in their schemes.
Furthermore, said Abbott, among the rental units, there are almost none which remain empty for more than one month, when the previous tenant vacates them.
“Our rental portfolio consists of just under 200 units,” said Abbott, “and we have less than 2,5% late payers, i.e. paying after two weeks, while among actual defaulters, the percentage is well below 1%.”
A 0% vacancy, added Abbott, is fairly rare anywhere in the Greater Cape Town area – but that is what we have achieved.
“Landlords today,” said Abbott, “appreciate that a good rental agent, using the ‘tools’ available to such people (Payprop, TPN and Search Works) are able to weed out 99% of unreliable and irresponsible tenants. The reason for this being that these research investigation engines have access to almost all potential tenants’ credit and employment records.”
Today, said Abbott, Tyger Valley Waterfront rents are increasing at a rate of, or even above, 10% per annum. Monthly rents on units in the area vary from R5,500 for a basic unfurnished two bedroom unit to R15,000 for a three bedroom furnished unit. In general, furnished units rent out for 25% more than those which are unfurnished.
On the sales front, added Abbott, things are also looking very promising. After property values dropped drastically in the 2009 to 2011 recession, prices are now firming up – but it is still possible to get a two bedroom apartment at the Tyger Valley Waterfront for R650,000. By way of contrast, top level apartments can cost as much as R2,5 million.
“The current sales prices and rentals,” said Abbott, “should make a purchase here very attractive to investors. However, they are not returning to the market in large numbers as yet.”
Asked if the precinct was ‘alive by night’, Abbott said that although several restaurants did not survive here initially, most have gone from strength to strength and are currently doing very well. This, he said, has ensured that the Waterfront is now a recognized social gathering place, not just in the evenings but also over lunch hours.
The appeal of the entire Waterfront precinct, added Abbott, is greatly enhanced by efficient management of the waterbody, roads and road verges, the communal areas and the cliff faces, one of which has a very attractive waterfall which flows year-round.
Some 40% of the space at the Waterfront is set aside as commercial property and this, too, said Abbott, is now experiencing a much stronger demand. As a result, he now has a departure to sell and let commercial property in the area.
