There are few better investments right now in the Cape Town residential property market than sectional title apartments in Brackenfell.
This is according to Jason Blight, last year’s winner of the Alexander Swart Property Brand Ambassador award and this year’s most successful agent in the company thus far.
What’s more, Blight says savvy investors are realising the investment potential - of the 295 sales of such apartments in Brackenfell in the last 12 months, over 65% have been to buy-to-let investors, with 171 priced in the R800 000 to R1.5 million bracket.
The average price of sectional title apartments in this particular bracket was R1.088 million, which is very definitely in the affordable range for the middle-bracket investor, and of course, for many first-time buyers.
Nevertheless, this price represents a big increase on those of two or three years ago, and the reasons for this are easily identifiable: rental returns in this price range have been as high as 10.2% annually (with an average of 6.5%) while capital values have risen by about 9% annually in the last three years.
Blight says these figures go a long way to explaining just why this market has been so attractive to investors and why it’s favoured by younger buyers. According to the analysts, Lightstone, 44% of recent buyers have been 18 to 35 years old, and the current trend is still towards young buyers.
“If you buy a typical two bedroom apartment in Brackenfell for around R1 million, you can easily achieve a rent of R8 500 per month, while still seeing very significant capital growth year-on-year,” he says.
One of the big advantages of residential stock in the Brackenfell area is that much of it is new or relatively new. The whole precinct has a fresh ‘as new’ look about it, and this is enhanced by new commercial and retail buildings in the central areas. This is exemplified by the new Brick ‘n Board development and Fountain Views, where Alexander Swart is 90% sold out on the apartments with an average value of R1.3 million, says Blight.
Blight says he has been selling anything up to seven homes per month in Brackenfell and nearby suburbs, and this is due to the fact that Brackenfell now ‘sells itself’.
Rowan Alexander, Director of Alexander Swart, says there is no need to recap too fully on Brackenfell’s advantages to most buyers. “At the same time, very few agents put in the long hours like Blight does. “As our brand ambassador, Blight lives out all the values that we endeavour to inculcate in our agents,” he says.
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