Property Talk

Having had the opportunity to spend some time in the leading golf and lifestyle estates within the Cape area over the holidays it is interesting to see how many of these living environments are developing and the level of sales activity they are experiencing.

With so many Durbanites holidaying in the Cape area over this time it is useful to draw comparisons to our leading North Coast golfing and lifestyle estates and to get an understanding how we compare.

Within the heartland of the Cape Peninsula suburb of Constantia, situated close to the iconic Groot and Klein Constantia Wine Farms is Steenberg Golf Estate. With only 237 properties (all freehold) over 96 ha it is now a mature an highly desired residential estate with average selling price in 2017 of R12,4m with 16 properties traded over that period.

This is an exclusive address but not where the future lies or where the families migrating from other parts of the country are heading towards. Erinvale in Somerset West is another older established and exclusive golf estate surrounded by the Helderberg Nature Reserve and wine farms, has 433 properties over 155 ha with an average selling price in 2017 of R7m with 23 sales recorded over the period.

Not far from Erinvale is De Zalze Golf Estate in Stellenbosch having 516 properties over 294 ha with an average price tag in 2017 of R11m over 20 sales for the period. I picked up on two large De Zalze transactions in 2017- one at R23m and another at R20,95m.

Many migrating families from Gauteng and Durban have chosen to buy property along the Blouberg Beach / Melkbos area just up the West Coast due to the relative value and proximity to the ocean. Atlantic Beach Golf Estate is located in Melkbos Strand has 1014 properties over 184 ha and in 2017 had an average selling price of R4,350,000 across 50 sales.

This is a much more affordable option and understandable as to why it is attracting attention. The day I spent on the beach in Blouberg was windless - rare along that stretch of coastline as it is the kite-surfing capital of South Africa attracting hordes of top European kite-surfers over the summer season. Moving back to the winelands there are two estates, which have now become one mega-estate under the same ownership and management - Val de Vie and Pearl Valley.

A lot has happened in the past year with the extensive land holding linking the two estates now being developed with roads and infra-structure going into the ground, releasing many new vacant land opportunities.

Located within the Paarl suburb along the road that links Paarl to Franschoek. Pearl Valley alone has 658 properties over 178 ha with an average selling price of R5,400,000 in 2017 across 101 transactions - this included 25 sectional title sales, 57 freehold homes and 19 vacant sites. Val de Vie Estate (not golf but Polo) has 1,352 properties covering 460 ha.

In 2017 the average selling price was R3,050,000 over 220 sales. So between Pearl Valley and Val de Vie there were 321 sales of R1,216bn in 2017 alone. That is impressive and indicates where the money is going. As a relative comparative Zimbali Coastal Resort covers 441 ha with 1,680 properties and using available data for 2017 delivered 72 sales at an average price of R7,300,000. Simbithi Eco Estates' land holding is just over 400ha, with 1672 properties currently. For 2017 Simbithi had 105 sales at an average value of R4,200,000.