R45 million apartments in Cape Town are hot property

Apartments across the Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl are selling like ‘hot cakes’ and for up to R45 million, says Ross Levin, managing director for Seeff in the area.

Levin said the realtor is seeing an influx of people looking for a better quality lifestyle, with demand for apartments recovering well and well-priced units are selling quickly.

“The luxury end of the sectional title market is also doing well,” said Levin.

“Seeff’s Waterfront team of Finella Botes and Kim Bailey sold the R45 million penthouse in Juliette on the canals to a buyer from Germany who intends spending six months of the year in SA, in addition to several sales at the Waterfront.”

This sale is the highest price achieved at the Waterfront since 2013 and the fourth-highest price achieved on the Atlantic Seaboard over the last twelve months, said the agents.

For the market as a whole, the Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl sectional title sales over the last twelve months comprise almost 80% of all units sold on the Atlantic Seaboard and about 67% in the CBD/City Bowl area. The sector achieved around 680 units sold to the value of R2.56 billion.

This is still slightly below the 2019 levels and selling prices remain flat with little to no growth year-on-year, said Levin.

“What is encouraging is that the sales are taking place to a broad spectrum of buyers, not just locals but foreign buyers as well as buyers from upcountry areas such as Gauteng, he said.

“The sectional title market is diverse offering not just the opportunity to downscale for older buyers but is increasingly seen as an option for young professionals.”

Aside from residential and retirement demand, the market is made up of a significant investment portion for both the residential and short-let market.

Although Sea Point and the CBD boast the highest number of sectional title sales, the market is active across the areas including the City Bowl, De Waterkant, Green Point, Sea Point, Mouille Point and Waterfront as well as the luxury suburbs of Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, Fresnaye and Clifton.

Levin said the Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl remain among the most desirable places to live and the Covid pandemic lifestyle shifts have not affected that. “We are not seeing an exodus of people, far from it,” he said.

From a broader market perspective, sectional title living is the fastest growing property trend in the country as the cities transform to meet the demand for more housing, but to also accommodate the shifts in lifestyle.

According to Lightstone, sectional title sales for the country as a whole comprised around 27.7% (2019) of all sales compared to 22% in 2010.

Levin said the current market presents the ideal opportunity for buyers to take advantage of the flat price growth and low borrowing costs to invest in this area which has seen significant capital appreciation during the economic growth periods.

Aside from the tourism demand which will return once the Covid pandemic subsides, the move of Western Province Rugby to the Cape Town Stadium for both domestic and international fixtures will further add to the demand in the area.

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