Cape Town - Foreign buyers and Gautengers are snapping up R40 million plus Cape properties despite what estate agents are calling a “weak luxury market”.
Chairman of the Seeff Property Group, Samuel Seeff, said the company achieved a record R1.7 billion in sales in March, the highest in the group’s 57-year history.
Seeff said: “We have seen increased activity from foreign buyers at the high-end price levels and clinched the R45 million sale of a penthouse to a German buyer at the Waterfront, the highest price achieved here in close to eight years.
“Overall sales to foreign buyers across Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl are a whopping 36% higher compared to 2019 and is the highest in the past three years. Almost one third of all high value sales have been to foreign buyers who have paid some of the highest prices including the R45 million sale at the Waterfront.”
He said the company was in the process of concluding an even higher value sale in Plettenberg Bay to a buyer from the UK which will be one of the highest prices ever achieved for residential property in the town.
This follows a recent R36 million sale to a UAE buyer in Fresnaye, several sales in Camps Bay, and two R20 million-plus sales in Constantia Upper to buyers from Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively.
RE/MAX Southern Africa chief executive Adrian Goslett said the Cape’s luxury market has always held a wide appeal, attracting international buyers and local investors alike.
“More recently, as a result of the changes brought about by Covid-19, the area has gained increased popularity among Johannesburg buyers who are drawn to the safe, active outdoor lifestyle Cape Town has to offer.”
RE/MAX Living estate agent Talitha Finkay said many of her buyers for properties in the Tamboerskloof and Camps Bay areas come from Gauteng.
“I am currently working with a buyer who lives in Sandhurst and who so loves being able to walk in Cape Town, something they say they cannot do from their multi-million rand home in Johannesburg.”
Meanwhile, Cape Town’s lifestyle is drawing interest from remote workers from around the world.
The City’s municipal bosses and economic agencies such as Cape Town Tourism have recently upped the ante to get the word out to both the international and domestic markets that the Metro is open for business.
Both organisations have partnered to promote the Digital Nomad Initiative in a bid to attract remote workers. They are also lobbying the South African government to introduce a “Remote Working Visa”.
According to Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management James Vos, “It is essential that the local travel and hospitality sector adapts given the devastation wrought by Covid-19. The remote worker home away from home concept is ideal in this regard.”
Quoting from the latest FNB Property Barometer, the bank’s senior economist Siphamandla Mkhwanazi said they had seen a 46% increase in the total number of buyers who purchased their secondary properties in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Cape Argus