There’s a new ‘Sandton’ emerging in Joburg

The rapid development in Waterfall City is leading to Midrand being described as the “new Sandton.”

Waterfall City is home to large shopping centres, tower blocks, and modern residential developments, which originally made Sandown the “richest square mile in Africa” in the 1970s.

PwC, SAGE, Accenture, Deloitte, Novartis, BMW, Dis-Chem, Cummins, Dimension Data, Vantage, Cisco, and Cotton On all have offices in Waterfall City, which is establishing itself as a blue-chip business and logistics destination.

The property offers a wide range of upscale residential options for executives and employees or their companies.

The mixed-use development is home to the Mall of Africa and several other shopping and entertainment venues, extensive green areas, a new hospital, and a range of sports facilities.

That said, Julie McDonald, principal of the First Realty office in Midrand, said that Midrand has been under continuous development since a few high-profile companies moved their offices there after the opening of the N1 highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria in the 1970s.

This includes Johnson & Johnson, MSD, and Janssen. Over the next twenty years, others followed them, such as BMW, Glaxo-Wellcome, Siemens, Oracle, Q Data, Mustek, Honeywell, Panasonic, Nashua, and Vodacom.

By the late 1990s, Midrand had become one of the fastest-growing areas in South Africa. More people and smaller companies saw the appeal of locating a business in a central location with high visibility, good infrastructure, and excellent transport links.

This led to the development of new homes in the area, catering to a wide spectrum of income groups, including new retail centres, business parks, schools, medical facilities and hotels.

Other notable features of the area in the Gallagher Convention Centre, the Grand Central Airport and the Gautrain link in the area.

“And one only has to see the huge number of people using the train in the mornings and evenings to realise how important Midrand has become as a major residential node as well as a commercial hub,” said McDonald.

“It’s obviously popular with people who want to live close to work in a local company, but also a great solution for families where one parent works in Pretoria and the other in Johannesburg, for example.

“In addition, it has become increasingly sought-after among affluent buyers as the types of residential development become more diverse.

“Initially, most new homes built here were sectional title apartments and townhouses, and the Midrand area still attracts many young, first-time buyers because these are readily available at more reasonable prices than in other areas on the Gautrain route, such as Sandton and Rosebank in Johannesburg.”

Over the last few years, Midrand has also gained several country and lifestyle estates, such as Kyalami Estates, Kyalami Glen, Blue Valley Golf Estate, Carlswald Estate, Carlswald North, Summerset Estate and more.

Near Midrand is also the Midstream group of estates, setting widespread interest from high-end buyers.

A home in Midrand also offers easy access to many top schools, such as Reddam House in Waterfall, Redford House in Blue Hills, Beaulieu College, Curro Sagewood, Pinnacle College in Waterfall and the Summerhill schools.

“However, we are finding that a large percentage of buyers at the moment are actually people who have lived here for some time and are relocating within Midrand – usually from smaller homes to bigger ones – because they love the location and the lifestyle it offers them,” said McDonald.

Firzt said that the highest demand in the area is around the R2.5 million market, and the most popular homes are three-bedroom clusters.

“We foresee that as interest rates continue to come down, there will be even stronger interest in Midrand and that home prices will rise.”

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