No other area in greater Cape Town offers the middle class buyer such good value as Durbanville.
This is according to Louis Schoeman, the Rawson Property Group’s Durbanville franchisee, who says the type of home which in Durbanville sells for around R2 million would cost at least double that if it was in Rondebosch, Upper Claremont, Kenilworth, or Constantia.
What is more, this applies in virtually every price category, despite the obvious “extra bonus points” conferred by the fact that 80% of Durbanville’s houses are larger and on larger stands than those of the Southern Suburbs and are generally newer, better fitted out and almost always well-maintained.
Schoeman says with some 21 satellite suburbs all corralled into the Durbanville district, the prices of freestanding homes in this area can vary from R1.8 million to R20 million or more - one was sold recently at Eversdal for a price of above R34 million. However, the demand for freestanding homes is currently focused on homes priced below R3.5 million.
The area can also offer a few apartments in the R650 000 to R1.2 million bracket, and a fair number of townhouses in the R1.2 million to R3 million bracket.
He says that, to an extent, Durbanville continues to be an "undiscovered gem" to the vast majority of Capetonians. The good news about the lifestyle that the area makes possible and the real value its homes represent has percolated through to an increasing number of buyers.
“Most new buyers come to this area because the town has a village atmosphere and is in many ways a small, independent, completely self-sufficient ‘republic’.”
Among the more sophisticated amenities which the area can offer are state-of-the-art retail centres, up-to-date medical facilities, nationally graded restaurants and some excellent schools. There are also many churches throughout the satellite areas of Durbanville.
Schoeman says with demand growing month-by-month, many estate agents have run short of stock.
“If a home is brought to the market at a realistic price it will usually sell within two weeks, and our records show that this year the average time taken to sell a home has been 28 days. In addition, most of these homes are selling at 95% of the asking price.”
As yet, he says, houses in the R5 million plus bracket are not attracting a great deal of buyer interest, but homes in the R3 million to R5 million bracket are now beginning to be evaluated and visited by potential buyers. There is a good possibility that an uptick in sales in this bracket will take place in the coming year.
Durbanville will continue to grow in popularity, but with the South African economy currently struggling to achieve a satisfactory growth rate, Schoeman does not foresee middle class house prices in his areas rising faster than they have done so far: buyers can therefore probably expect price increases later this year to be limited to 5% to 8%, the increase last year having been 8% to 10%.
“This should be good news because it confirms what I have already said about Durbanville offering good value for money,” he says.
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