An analysis of the Cape Town Rawson Property Group franchises to ascertain in which areas most of the residential sales activity is now taking place has corroborated very closely the latest figures and charts released by the Western Cape Institute of Estate Agents through their data processing service, Propstats. This was said recently by Jonathan Douglas, General Manager: Operations Support for the Rawson Property Group.
“People who have known Cape Town for a good long time are inclined to believe that the traditionally popular upper to middle income suburbs such as Rondebosch, Claremont and Constantia are still leading the pack in the residential housing stakes. This is true as regards the prices, because many of these suburbs have recently set new records for the prices they have achieved, but in terms of unit sales the older Cape Town suburbs are now falling far behind the up and coming areas.”
In these areas, said Douglas, it is Brackenfell/Kraaifontein that is way out in front: the Rawson Property Group franchises here in the past year sold 560 units, about 40% of which were still on plan and due for completion within a specified period of months. Although their high sales figures made the Rawson Property Group the number one estate agency in the area, other agencies here also had good sales figures.
Slotting into second place on the performance ladder for Greater Cape Town is Somerset West/Strand. In the year past, said Douglas, the Rawson Property Group franchises here sold 290 homes. This again put them amongst the front runners of local agencies but by no means the only one to have high sales figures.
Third on the performance chart, said Douglas, is Blaauwberg/Table View/Parklands. Here in the last 15 years some 17,000 sectional title accommodation units have been built and last year the local Rawson Property Group franchise sold 243 homes here – in this case a fairly small percentage, around 10%, were new build.
What is particularly surprising about the figures unearthed by our group, said Douglas, is that although prices have recently been rising steadily at 7% plus on an annualized basis, the average price of a Cape Town home sold by Rawson is now ± R1,2 million, a figure that some would regard as fairly low. The fact that sales in the less affluent areas were good, he said, indicates that the majority of South African buyers are still looking for homes that by middle class terms can be described as ‘affordable’.
In Brackenfell, despite nearly half the sales being for new build homes, the average price was ± R770,000 – with new homes typically costing over R1,1 million. In Blaauwberg, Table View and Parklands the average price was R1,2 million, whether one is talking old or new homes, and in Somerset West the average price of a home sold last year was R1,8 million, while those in Strand had an average price of R860,000.
Asked what conclusions can be drawn from these figures, Douglas said that the steady rise in prices over the last four years has come about as a result of demand – “it could not have happened if there had not been more buyers than sellers in the market at any one time”. As yet, he said, there are no signs of this demand slackening off.
“In the past few years investment in Cape Town residential property has given a good return and this trend may continue in 2015 – especially in view of the latest predictions that the USA is far less willing to have major interest rate hikes this year than was previously thought and South Africa will therefore probably not be forced into raising the prime lending rate drastically.”
Asked if the many previously disadvantaged Capetonians have reason to hope that they too will find a place on the home owning ladder, Douglas said the Rawson Property Group’s figures for areas such as Ottery, Grassy Park, Mitchells Plain, Strandfontein, Kuils Rivier, Eerste Rivier, Goodwood and Paarl East all show a marked upward trend with values rising at around 10% per annum and in all these areas, there are now stock shortages, a sure sign of a burgeoning market.
For further information contact the Rawson Property Group on (021) 658 7100.
