New shopping mall opens on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast

A new shopping centre has opened its doors on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast, further serving the economic boom in the area over the past decade.

The Marine Walk Shopping Centre, developed by Devmco Group as part of the Salta Sibaya precinct, is located in Umdloti, which is located between Umhlanga and Ballito – two of the wealthiest areas in the country, following an influx of high-net-worth residents in recent years.

The new centre officially opened its doors at the end of last month and includes well-known brands like Dis-Chem, Kauai, Mr Price Home, Woolworths, Spar, Milady’s and Mugg & Bean.

It includes local operators such as Waxy O’Connors, Petland and Frozen For You, and is home to the first Woolworths W.Edit store in the province. W.Edit is a curated offering of Woolworths products in a compact store format.

Salta Sibaya forms part of the Sibaya Coastal Precinct. The precinct consists of around 1 000 hectares of coastal landscape between the Ohlanga and uMdloti estuaries, with easy access to Durban (23 km), Umhlanga (4km) and King Shaka International Airport (7km).

Data from AfrAsia Bank’s South Africa Wealth Report for 2021 shows that the number of wealthy people living around Durban and the North Coast is rapidly increasing.

“Notably, Umhlanga and Ballito are two of the fastest growing towns in South Africa, in terms of wealth growth over the past decade,” it said.

In a prior study, AfrAsia Bank said that the Durban-Umhlanga- Ballito corridor (which includes Umdloti) is the fastest growing wealth market in the country, with growth of 25% over the past decade. This was prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw further wealth flood into the region.

The Durban, Ballito and Umhlanga corridor is now home to in excess of 3,300 high net worth individuals (HNWI), defined as those with $1 million or more of investable assets, and 210 multi-millionaires, people with $10 million or more of investable assets.

AfrAsia Bank also noted that Umhlanga has been the top performing residential market with square meter prices in the Pearls luxury apartment complex now reaching similar levels to top apartments in Bantry Bay and Clifton in Cape Town.

There has also been an uptick in prices in surrounding areas such as Ballito, La Lucia and Zinkwazi.

Data from Lightstone found that investors on the North Coast are increasingly opting for sectional title or estate living. Both categories have grown exponentially since 1994, while the growth of freehold properties has slowed as homeowners increasingly favor the benefits offered by community living.

Of the total property stock on the North Coast, sectional title accounts for 56% (15,722), followed by estate properties at 24% (6,897) and then freehold at 20% (5,814 properties).

In 1994, there were just 219 estate houses on the North Coast, but this has grown to 6,897, it said.

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