THERE has been an uptick in the demand for luxury homes in the R10 million-plus price band this year, Pam Golding Properties chief executive Dr Andrew Golding said this week.
“In regard to freehold homes, these have benefited from lockdowns and the shift to remote working, experiencing 6 percent price appreciation since the start of the year to April compared to 3 percent for sectional title homes,” he said.
“That aside, we find that in the apartment-living genre, penthouses are highly sought after and, due to their nature, limited in supply. As a result, they yield very good returns on investment,” he said.
Apart from local purchasers, in Cape Town’s sought-after southern suburbs, for the year to date, sales in the buoyant Constantia high-end market had been mainly driven by buyers from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
There had also been an increase in demand for properties above R10m on the Atlantic Seaboard.
In Gauteng, Lambert Bezuidenhout, Pam Golding Properties’ area principal in Steyn City, said heightened activity in the upper price band had been more of a catch-up than a recovery, having been stifled by the stringent lockdown measures.
“The majority of our sales are around the R20m mark for completed houses, with sales of over R35m and upwards not uncommon. However, while land is still available from just over R3m, many purchasers make a further capital investment in high-end homes, which may enjoy a market value of up to and in excess of R60m. Of our 14 highest recent sales, all except one were to South African buyers,” said Bezuidenhout.
In Durban North, Pam Golding Properties’ area principal for Durban Coastal, Carol Reynolds, said half their sales concluded with high net-worth buyers comprised large free-standing mansions. Upper Durban North continued to attract affluent purchasers who sought privacy. “Estates were always popular, but often size and height restrictions limited options for the mega-wealthy,” Reynolds said.
In uMhlanga, movement in the upper price bracket had been split equally between sectional title schemes on the beachfront or in gated estates and free-standing homes not within estates.
BUSINESS REPORT