Known as the city of lakes, Benoni is situated in the East Rand of the Gauteng province. Founded in 1881 when the then surveyor-general of the Transvaal Republic, Johan Rissik, found it difficult to assign title deeds to all the unclaimed state property, Benoni had a rather ominous beginning.
This four bedroom house in Rynfield A H, Benoni offers large gardens, a place to run your business, bar room, pool and five automated garages. It is on the market for R5.5 million - click here to view.
As a result the area was named after a Hebrew name meaning 'son of my sorrow'. Rissik found it particularly troublesome to establish boundaries of the already existing Rietfontein, Modderfontein, Kleinfontein and Brakpan farms and accordingly named the unclaimed land Benoni.
After the discovery of gold on the Modderfontein Farm in September 1887 and the Chimes Mine was established, Cornishmen Sir George Farrar, the chairman of the mining company, undertook it to beautify the fast growing mining town in 1904. Farrar planned and developed the town of Benoni on the non-gold-bearing portion of Kleinfontein land.
Mine water was channeled into marshland to create reservoirs stocked with fish. These reservoirs are still in existence today and the area has a large number of lakes that are used for fishing and boating. Along with the reservoirs, thousands of trees were planted in the area to create a suburban atmosphere and Benoni was officially declared a township in 1906.
This five bedroom house in Rynfield, offers a family room with wet bar, staff quarters, security system and two car garages. It is on the market for R1.95 million - click here to view.
As gold mining decreased in importance, more focus was placed on industry and services and today the area is the service hub for surrounding towns such as Brakpan, Nigel and Springs. It has become a diverse city that contains numerous attractive, tree-lined suburbs, unlike many of the more industrial type areas found in the East Rand.
Adrian Goslett, chief executive officer of RE/MAX of Southern Africa says property in Rynfield, Benoni consists of 53.34 percent freehold homes, 23.55 percent estates and 23.11 percent sectional title units.
He says while the average price of sectional title property has remained fairly stable over the last five years, seeing only slight growth between 2008 and 2013, freehold homes have performed far better. From 2004 to 2008 the average freestanding home price grew rapidly, stabilising during 2009. From 2010 the price again saw further growth hitting a record high of R1.341 million this year.
This three bedroom house in Rynfield, Benoni offers a solar geyser, indoor swimming pool and an over-sized yard. It is on the market for R2.2 million - click here to view.
According to Lightstone, consumers aged between 36 and 49 years old account for 40.33 percent of recent buyers, 37.74 percent of existing owners and 39.91 percent of recent sellers in Rynfield.
Goslett says from 2005 sales transactions in the area saw a steady decline up until 2009. In 2010, the number of sales began to turn around and started seeing growth with more and more properties selling in the area each year.
Goslett says around 41.1 percent of properties sold in Rynfield between October 2012 and September 2013 were those priced between R800 000 and R1.5 million, while 30.8 percent were priced between R400 000 and R800 000. He says 19 percent of properties sold during this period were priced between R1.5 million and R3 million, with 7.1 percent below R400 000 and the remaining 2 percent of properties sold in the area during this time above R3 million.
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