Free Jag SUV with purchase of R20m penthouse slated
IT CONTINUES to be open season for super wealthy property buyers in Cape Town’s CBD, and there’s nothing the municipality can do to regulate it.
One of the latest developments in the CBD is The Onyx, by Signatura. Investors will be set back R20 million for a penthouse at the Heerengracht Street location, and included in the price is a Jaguar F-Pace SUV. Signatura is a “private label” property company, which specialises in developing luxury Cape Town apartments.
It was founded by property developer John Rabie, founder of the Rabie Property Group.
Head researcher at activist organisation and law centre Ndifuna Ukwazi, Hopolang Selebalo, said the effect developments like The Onyx is having on poor and working class households is “catastrophic”.
Selebalo said inclusive growth and development was needed, and the City needs to play a stronger role in regulating the private sector.
“Exclusive buildings for the super wealthy such as the Onyx are creating a property bubble and driving inequality. The Onyx has nothing to do with lifestyles and everything to do with how homes are being commodified and stripped of their social function.
“The Onyx will of course raise property prices in the area to unprecedented levels, but Cape Town already has the highest property prices on the continent,” Selebalo said.
Rabie did not respond to questions by deadline.
Mayco member for Transport and Urban Development Brett Herron said the City does not set or influence prices of private property, and its focus is to implement new housing projects for those who require and qualify for state assistance.
“Higher-end private developments in the inner-city reaffirm the need for the state to ensure the inner-city is accessible and affordable and this is what we plan to do.
“The City has no influence on regulating market prices,” Herron said.
CALL it a clever sales gimmick or a crass way of promoting a new development, the announcement that those lucky enough to afford a R20 million Foreshore penthouse will have a R792 300 Jaguar SUV thrown into the deal once again shows up our divided city.
Consider this, while income inequality has eased over the last decade, Cape Town’s gini-coefficient remains stubbornly high at 0.61. Anything closer to 0.5 indicates increased income inequality.
Just last week Western Cape Property Development Forum chairperson Deon van Zyl called on his colleagues to take proactive steps in including affordable housing into their developments.
Failure to change their way of doing business could invite scrutiny from politicians who might put in place more draconian measures to force inclusion of affordable housing in development plans.
Cape Town properties are the most expensive on the continent, particularly those sandwiched between the mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, but the ripple effect of this boom has meant that long-time residents in areas like Woodstock and Salt River are being displaced by gentrifying bargain hunters.
Those forced out, having previously defied apartheid’s Group Areas Act, are now left at the mercy of a failing rail system, which highlights why building affordable housing closer to the city centre is of vital importance.
While the City of Cape Town is proposing the construction of affordable housing as part of its development plans for the Foreshore highway bridges, it should be said to developers that a more integrated city makes perfect business sense and that will make Cape Town truly world class – for now we’re masking our problems behind gimmicks.
Including an SUV into the purchase of a luxury apartment is a slap in the face for those who can barely afford the rent around the City Bowl, and seeks to create an air of exclusivity when it only leaves a stench of indulgence.
Instead of the SUV, the developer of the apartment block could have funded several affordable apartments in close proximity to the City Bowl. This was an opportunity missed.