Cape Town - A weak rand and gloomy economy have not curbed wealthy South Africans from snapping up luxury property in the Western Cape as soon as it becomes available – especially on the popular Atlantic Seaboard.
A recent record R111 million sale of a luxury house in Nettleton Road, Clifton, to a Joburg buyer by Seeff agent Lance Cohen is a case in point. The previous highest price for a house in the suburb was R60m paid for a Nettleton Road property in 2010.
Ian Slot, Seeff Property’s managing director for the Atlantic Seaboard, said about R1 billion worth of R20m-plus trophy houses have already been sold across the city for this year – most in suburbs such as Clifton, Camps Bay, Bantry Bay and Fresnaye.
Slot said the R111m sale was one of only three agency sales to have ever topped the R100m mark, two of which were sold by Seeff.
The Stefan Antoni designed home was built over several levels, offering a massive 1 381m2 in floor space. The house also includes a lift.
The home offers views of the ocean as far as to the horizon in the front and the mountain to the rear.
Large glass stack doors open the main floor and living areas to a terrace and rim-flow swimming pool that is suspended mid-air over the ocean while the master bedroom suite covers an entire floor.
There is also a house manager/butler’s apartment, high-tech 10-seater cinema, gymnasium, store rooms, a multimedia and electronics control room and top class finishes, including state-of-the-art underfloor temperature control throughout.
Cohen said Clifton was now so sought after that land prices have doubled in just five years.
“The average house price for Clifton now stands at R19.7m – the highest in the country and about R5m more than five years ago.”
Slot said about 60 percent of top-end sales were to Capetonian buyers and the rest mostly holiday and investment homes to Joburg and KZN-buyers as well as foreign buyers.
“The Cape property market is enjoying some of the highest confidence levels in the country.
“It has been a strong performer over the past two years with the R20m-plus trophy sector of the market surging ahead in price and value,” said Slot.
Mike Greeff, chief executive of Greeff Properties, an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, said the luxury residential property market was in a particularly healthy state.
He said the Propstats figure for the total sales revenue in all areas of the Cape Peninsula recorded from September last year to this month rose by 32 percent.
Greeff said luxury properties across the peninsula were now selling and, in many cases, achieving top prices such as the R21.85m, five-bedroom home in Zwaanswyk and a R23m Claremont Upper luxury home, sold by Greeff agents.
“The weaker rand is a further encouragement to foreign investors who are presented with unprecedented bargains and incomparable value for money when considering purchasing Cape luxury properties,” he said.
Greeff added that many of the buyers seeking luxury homes were relocating from other areas in Cape Town and a growing number were from Joburg and Durban.
Basil Moraitis, Pam Golding Properties area manager on the Cape’s Atlantic Seaboard, said the area was a prime location for high-end buyers, particularly residential properties with panoramic ocean views positioned high up on the mountain in Nettleton Road, Clifton, in Bantry Bay and Fresnaye, as well as the V&A Waterfront.
Moraitis said top-end sales concluded by the company ranged from over R20m to R100m.
“There are different profile buyers, some want apartments that have beach access, others prefer the bungalow lifestyle on the beach and other buyers want to be right on the very top of the suburb, Nettleton Road and Top Road,” he said.
“While the prevailing shortage of stock is further impacting on the high demand for residential accommodation both to rent and buy on the Atlantic Seaboard, this is also serving to push up prices, thereby enhancing capital growth for owners of residential property in this locale.”
CAPE ARGUS