The weakening economy and housing sales notwithstanding, wealthy buyers are still seeing Cape Town’s blue chip property locations such as the Atlantic Seaboard as a good store of wealth, according to Ian Slot of Seeff Properties.

Slot, Seeff’s managing director for the area said that about R1bn worth of R20m-plus trophy homes sales have already sold across the city for this year, most in suburbs such as Clifton, Camps Bay, Bantry Bay and Fresnaye.

This includes a recent record R111m (including VAT) sale of a luxury home in Nettleton Road, Clifton to a Johannesburg buyer. The previous highest price for a house in the suburb was R60m paid for a Nettleton Road property in 2010.

This is also one of only three agency sales to have ever topped the R100m mark, two of which were sold by Seeff.

The Stefan Antoni designed home is built over several levels, offering a massive 1 381 square metre in floor space served by an elevator. The views are spectacular, with miles and miles of ocean to the front and mountain to the rear.

Large glass stack doors open the main floor and living areas to a terrace and rim-flow swimming pool that is suspended mid-air over the ocean. The master bedroom suite covers an entire floor.

There is also a house manager/butler’s apartment, high-tech 10-seater cinema, gymnasium, store rooms, a multi-media and electronics control room and top class finishes including state-of-the-art underfloor temperature control (heating and cooling) throughout.

Image source: SAOTA (original designers)

This sale follows the sale of a 2 500 square metre tract of vacant land that fronts onto Victoria Road for the record price of R70m last year. This price is also the highest ever paid for a residential plot in the country.

Clifton is now so sought after that land prices have doubled in just five years, said Lance Cohen, the agent behind both record sales. A 1 242 square metre plot in Nettleton Road sold by the agent for R35m about three years ago, resold within a year for almost double at R68.3m. Cohen said a client declined an offer of R140m late last year for a 40 00 square metre tract of land in Nettleton Road.

The average house price for Clifton now stands at R19.7m, the highest in the country and about R5m more than five years ago, said Cohen. The average rate per square metre too is up year-on-year by 20% from last year’s high of R100 000/sqm to R120 000/sqm, still the highest in the country.

So far this year, four properties in Clifton were sold above the R20m mark, while Bantry Bay saw seven properties, Fresnaye two and Camps Bay one going for above R20m .

About 60% of top-end buyers are Capetonians, with Johannesburg, KZN and foreigners snapping up the rest, mostly holiday and investment homes.

The Cape property market is enjoying some of the highest confidence levels in the country. It has been a strong performer over the past two years with the R20m-plus trophy sector of the market surging ahead in price and value, said Slot.

Fin24

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