May 13 2024 21:00
Guest piece for Seef Property Group
An analysis of the average selling prices in 2023 across the country by the Seeff Property Group revealed that nine of the most expensive suburbs are in Cape Town. Only Sandhurst from the Sandton/Johannesburg area makes it into the top ten.
These top ten suburbs now all command an average price of well above R10m and in the top suburbs the average is now just about R20m for Clifton and Bantry Bay.
Notably, where there were three Sandton/Joburg suburbs in the top ten list five years ago, this year, there is only Sandhurst, although it boasts a notably uptick in the median price.
Notable too, is that Higgovale in the Cape Town City Bowl is now also in the top ten list. It once again stands as testimony to the allure of Cape Town, but more than that, the absolute confidence in the Cape Town property market, said Samuel Seeff, chairman of the group.
Despite a challenging year, Cape Town is set to end on another exceptional year for the property market with an average transaction price of R2.1m according to Lightstone data.
Comparatively, Johannesburg only reached around R1.6m, Pretoria around R1.5m and Durban R1.3m. Sandton averaged around Sandton R2.3m with to the Atlantic Seaboard which stands on around R8.2 million based on Propstats sales data.
The average transaction price for Cape Town doubled over the last ten years and is up by about 35% from the 2019 pre-pandemic year. Cape Town also once again achieved the highest average prices in the country this year.
Ross Levin, licensee for Seeff Atlantic Seaboard said it was no surprise that 7 of the top 10 suburbs were located in the premier Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl belt where buyers have spent on average more over the last three years.
Despite the market challenges, the market traded slightly up on the 2022- year, which was already a very successful year. The market was made up of a greater quantity of deals, albeit at lower price bands. That said, the market at the upper end still traded up compared to the 2019 pre-pandemic period.
SA’s Top Ten Super Luxury Suburbs by Average Selling Price in 2023
| RANK | SUBURB | AREA | MEDIAN PRICE | HIGHEST PRICE ACHIEVED |
| 1 | Clifton | Atlantic Seaboard | R25M | R150M |
| 2 | Bantry Bay | Atlantic Seaboard | R22M | R60M |
| 3 | Llandudno | Atlantic Seaboard | R19.95M | R33M |
| 4 | Sandhurst | Sandton/Joburg | R19M | |
| 5 | Bishopscourt | Southern Suburbs | R17.55M | R90M |
| 6 | Higgovale | City Bowl | R16.2M | R33M |
| 7 | Waterfront | Atlantic Seaboard | R15.2M | R54M |
| 8 | Fresnaye | Atlantic Seaboard | R15M | R71.25M |
| 9 | Camps Bay | Atlantic Seaboard | R14.8M | R42M |
| 10 | Constantia Upper | Southern Suburbs | R13.1M | R70M |
Source: Seeff, based on Lightstone/Propstats data
The Southern Suburbs areas had close to R5.5bn in sales in 2023. Hout Bay has also enjoyed another exceptional year with sales of over R1bn and Blouberg over R2bn.
Luxury buyers continued to flock to Constantia Upper and Bishopscourt, said Francois Venter, lead agent for Seeff Constantia. There have already been 10 high value sales above R20m in Constantia and eight in Bishopscourt, in both instances, the highest on record. Luxury rentals have achieved rates of up to R120,000 per month in Constantia according to Jacqui Bush and Sonya Garisch from Seeff.
Several pillars support the Cape Town property market, said Seeff. Aside from own-use residential sales, it has a buoyant rental market for both residential and short-term rentals which makes Airbnb investments a lucrative option, especially with tourism growing. On top of that, the market is further boosted by an influx of semigration and international buyers and tenants.
Notes – statistics from Propstats and Lightstone
