With the appointment of Charl Cilliers as their franchisee for the KwaZulu Natal Hibiscus Coast, the Rawson Property Group is signalling to the residential property sector that it foresees a steady rise in prices and values in this always popular KZN South Coast holiday territory.
This two bedroom house in Woodgrange, Hibberdene has a patio and balcony. It is selling for R2.9 million - click here to view.
Cilliers, who has taken on both a sales and a letting franchise for the Rawson Property Group, says in the nine main villages which his franchise will be serving – Hibberdene, Port Shepstone, Shelly Beach, St. Michaels, Uvongo, Manaba, Margate, Ramsgate, Southbroom and Port Edward - residential property prices dropped as much as 20 percent to 30 percent in the 2008 to 2010 recession, but they are now once again stabilising and even showing slight signs of rising.
“What we experienced in the downturn is much the same as that which happened in most South African coastal areas where 50 percent or more of homes were holiday, second or potential retirement properties. People hard hit by the economic downturn found themselves having to get rid of their extra properties and the Hibiscus Coast went through one of the severest slumps in all its history, making it a real buyer’s market in which some fortunate people were able to pick up amazing bargains,” says Cilliers.
However, he says, this part of KZN has never been too expensive: although it can and does attract huge crowds in the school holidays and up to 200 000 people for a single three or four day sports or music event, it is still an affordable middle class family holiday venue, with sectional title prices on average from R800 000 to R1.2 million, and the majority of freehold homes priced from about the same base level to R1.4 million.
“Obviously, as elsewhere in KZN, we have a few outstanding millionaire homes priced at R5 million, R10 million or even R15 million, but in general this is a territory where prices are not as high as properties on the KZN North Coast,” says Cilliers.
He says in three years’ time the situation could be different. He foresees a slow but steady increase in demand and year-on-year price rises from here onwards. Anyone buying now, he expects, is likely to see his property appreciate by some 5 percent per annum by the end of 2017, especially if it can be rented out. In the off season, sectional title apartments attract rentals of R650 per day and in the holiday season rents rise to R1 000 or more per day, with luxury beachfront units able to charge R3 000 or more.
Cilliers stresses that for many, the South Coast is the perfect getaway destination. It has miles of safe beaches, excellent offshore and rock fishing, luxuriant plant and animal life, international standard golf courses and a wide range of tourist orientated facilities: hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, bistros, water parks, game reserves and, at the Wild Coast, a popular casino.
“The popularity of our area has never been in doubt. This, I believe, is a good place in which to invest in property,” he says.
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