Govt employees keep PMB boiling

A steady influx of government servants into Pietermaritzburg since the city took over provincial capital status from Ulundi has ensured that its residential property market, especially in the lower and middle class sectors, remains on the boil.

That's the word from Bruce Campbell, CEO of Pietermaritzburg-based Natal Property Consultants, who says there's no sign of the slowdown that has characterized many other parts of the country in recent months. Attributing the current buoyant state of the market largely to unrelenting demand from relocating government employees and investor buying, Campbell says price growth is up 12 percent on average for the first five months of the year, compared with 2005. Most movement is occurring in the under R1 million category, with rapid take-up of affordably priced stock, both houses and flats.

Evidence of this can be seen in a number of recent sellouts, he says, including Dube House, a block of 55 bachelor flats in the centre of the city. Still in the process of being refurbished, the flats nonetheless were all sold within nine days of being placed on the market, mostly to investors who paid between R195 000 and R235 000 for them.

A second example of market intensity was experienced last weekend during the launch of Beacon Hill Country Estate on the Wartburg Road, where 110 of its 300 vacant stands were snapped up in 48 hours. Again, investors who willingly paid R170 000 to R290 000 for a site, featured strongly in the buyer profile, says Campbell.

And in middle class Lincoln Meade, where a new residential development called Glen Meade was launched in March, the first phase, comprising 31 simplexes, was sold out within a week, he adds.

"Pietermaritzburg property prices are still relatively low compared with other large centres in the country," he says. "We still have houses in the mid R300 000s and flats from around R200 000, and even at the top end of our market, where the most expensive homes are selling for between R1, 5 million and R2,5 million, our pricing is highly competitive."

Buhle Mdlalose of Proprop Pietermaritzburg concurs. "Pietermaritzburg is humming, both in the traditional suburbs and in the township areas, where sales volumes are substantially up on this time last year. According to Mdlalose, the average price of a former government house in Imbali township is now around R75 000, while larger homes are selling for R200 000 to R320 000 and units in the residential development range from R180 000 to R360 000.

In Panorama Park's residential development, units are selling for up to R310 000 while second hand stock starts at around R220 000. Two bedroom government houses in the township of Ashdown start from R75 000, while in its extension, similar size homes sell from R100 000, she says. She adds that these are tradable prices, and that the banks are lending comfortably in this range.

Interest is also unrelenting for homes in Bizley, a traditional upper middle class suburb, where people are paying R800 000 for a standard three bedroom house, and in ever-popular Hayfields, which seldom has anything for under R1 million, says Mdlalose. - Ingrid Smit