With accessibly priced homes, young buyers in the predominantly freehold housing market in the Vaal Triangle towns of Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Meyerton account for approximately a third of all residential property purchases in these areas in 2022, says Pam Golding Properties area principals, Laurette Wolmarans and Deidre Nel.
According to real estate data group, Lightstone’s statistics, the median price of freehold homes sold in 2022 in these Vaal Triangle towns was around R1m, ranging from R950 000 in Vanderbijlpark to R1.195m in Meyerton.
“We are definitely seeing more young first time buyers, in the age group from 30-39 years, because of the affordability of homes in the various areas. The Vaal Triangle in general is the ideal place to raise a family. It’s a diverse community from lower budget living, but with great amenities, to high end living offering luxury at more affordable prices. Because of the value for money, quieter, laid-back ambience yet with busy centres like Johannesburg only about 40km away, we are seeing a great deal of buyers purchasing here and travelling for work as required,” said Nel.
“Although the value of residential property in our suburbs has increased, we still have appealing homes available under R1m, with most of these being freestanding. Some of these homes are old and need renovation, but a good, solid and neat home, even if smaller, will sell fast if priced correctly and pegged under the R1m mark,” she said.
If it’s riverfront property you are after, frontline homes in estates sell from R3m upwards, while freestanding riverfront homes on large erven can fetch from R6m.
All three towns have registered strong growth in residential property prices over the past 10 years.
Increased sales
According to Lightstone statistics, sales in Vanderbijlpark did not slow in 2020 and performed strongly in both 2021 and 2022, while in Vereeniging, sales slowed marginally in 2020 but have also since increased sharply, with sales in both 2021 and 2022 the highest recorded since 2013. Sales in Meyerton rose in 2020 and sales recorded during the past two years are the highest seen in the past decade.
Nel said that in the Meyerton and Midvaal area in general, which have developed considerably townhouses or freestanding homes within secure estates can be acquired for around R1m.
The properties which sell rapidly are usually priced between R800 000 and R1.2m in the areas of Three Rivers, Vereeniging CBD, Falconridge and Sonland Park; Vanderbijlpark CE and CW areas; and in Meyerton, according to Wolmarans.
Other security estates in the areas of Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark offer properties for sale priced from R1.5m up to R4m plus, depending on the estate, river access and the area.
Vereeniging is home to wildlife and river estates, including Jazella del Rio, Summerview, Zuikerbos Landgoed, and in Vanderbijlpark – Emfuleni Golf Estate and Riverspray Lifestyle Estate. Summerview property starts at around R3m for a four-bedroom house of approximately 280 square metres, while in Jazella del Rio, although most properties sell above R3m, with larger homes priced above R4m, you may find a small, older home on a stand of around 600 square metres in the region of R2.5m.
One way in which the markets in the Vaal Triangle differ is the percentage of stable owners, those who have owned their properties for more than 12 months, who are retirees. In Vereeniging, 40% of stable owners are retirees. This is also fairly high in Vanderbijlpark at 26% with Meyerton close behind at 23%, according to Lightstone’s data.
“Vereeniging is home to a lot of retirees, and we find most of them in our more exclusive areas such as Three Rivers East, for example. Younger families are trying to move in, but these homes are older and large, which means that renovations will be costly, while stand sizes are usually around 2 000 square metres and more, so maintenance may become an issue for them. A number of our retirees are moving into retirement villages here and in surrounding areas, in order to remain close to their friends,” said Nel.
alistair@propertyflash.co.za