House prices in this Cape Town suburb now average R14.2 million – growing at 12% annually since 2010

Nowhere else is the pandemic-induced demand for a work-live-play lifestyle better embodied than in the suburb of Camps Bay. South Africa’s top tourist suburb is riding the wave of positivity in the property market with spectacular sales, says Ross Levin, licensee for Seeff Atlantic Seaboard.

Seeff has just clinched a R52 million sale, a record price achieved by an agency in the suburb on top of record months and a record year by our two teams of agents, he said.

Following a lacklustre 2018 and 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought renewed interest in the country’s top tourist suburb with record sales, Levin said. Sales exceeding R741.6 million at an average price of over R14.2 million have already been achieved for the year to end October.

This, said Levin, is already 38% higher than the whole of 2020, 28% more than the whole of 2019 and 48% higher than the whole of 2018. “We could end the year on close to highs of 2017,” he said.

Camps Bay has been one of the fastest-growing areas since 2010. The average selling price has grown by 131% since 2010 which equates to average annual growth of around 12%, Levin said.

Seeff’s two Camps Bay teams achieved six high-value sales in September alone, ranging in price to R28 million for a luxury home in Camps Bay Drive and a R52 million record sale more recently.

The agent team of Lyn Pope and Edith Marsh said that the highest demand is for contemporary and modern freestanding houses and villas, while almost 70% of their listings were sold to foreign buyers from Canada, the UK, Russia, Nigeria, Switzerland and Sweden. Seeff said it expects a high volume of semigration and foreign buyer interest over the summer.

The team of Pola and Nadine Jocum also report a dramatic increase in sales this year – better than the pre-pandemic period of 2018 to 2019 when political and economic uncertainty combined with the Cape water shortage contributed to a major slowdown in sales in Camps Bay.

Team Jocum said they have achieved record sales months with total sales thus far of over R70 million in 2021. September has been a record month with sales ranging from R9.6 million to R28 million and achieving two of the highest prices in Camps Bay this year.

Buyers during 2020/2021 include SA expats, or people with business interests in South Africa. Three properties were purchased sight-unseen by buyers from Hong Kong, the US and France. Other buyers include Western Cape families, Gauteng and other province semigrations or luxury holiday homes, Seeff said.

4 bed house on sale for R14.95 million

Read: How much more you will pay on your bond after the latest interest rate hike