DURBAN – Tim Johnson, Sales Director/Licencee of Seeff North Coast in KwaZulu-Natal said that while the local real estate market is not completely sheltered from external forces and had an interesting 2018, many encouraging trends and milestones point to an incredibly positive 2019.
He said, "Whilst it is true that in a number of cases our year-on-year figures and performances across various market sectors are down, this is by no means a statistic to take at face value. People need to remember that we have been coming off a really high base over the last few years, and it is inevitable to see some normalization in the market".
2018 had some interesting highlights, the first trend being the uptick in performance of higher-end properties in Simbithi. This estate is now 15 years old and has been an incredibly popular investment destination, but historically trade above the R10 million level has been very slow. Since its inception, up until the end of 2017, there had only been six transfers above this mark, with the highest value being R11.25 million. In 2018 this figure doubled, with a further six sales above R10 million, the highest at R11 million.
Luxury market sales tell us a lot about the sentiment of a market, and these kinds of results are encouraging and potentially a sign of good things to come in 2019, especially for a number of our emerging lifestyle estates.
Another great result and a record for 2018 was our sale of a beachfront apartment in Ballito for R5.8 million. This is the second highest value ever achieved for a sectional title property along Compensation Beach Road. Then in December we sold a dream home in an iconic location overlooking Salt Rock Beach, which had come onto market for the first time, for R9.5 million.
Not only the high-end market has seen wonderful movement of late, we have also had fantastic results in places like Sheffield Manor, Manor Estates and Shortens Country Estate to name but a few. Demand is high and well-priced stock doesn’t sit on the market for long. Balwin Properties have also enjoyed phenomenal success with their Ballito Hills project which caters for a similar market. As at the end of November, the developers had sold an impressive 355 units since launching in mid-2017, and there is no real sign of things slowing down.
With all the development happening around us and exciting announcements and launches in the coming months, the North Coast is certainly South Africa’s investment and lifestyle darling, and we’re bracing for a bumper 2019.