Cape Town is still hot property

JOBURG is the second best performing African city in the luxury residential market, according to 2017 Knight Frank Wealth Report 2017.

While Cape Town finished in the top 15, the next bestperforming South African – and African – city was Joburg in 36th place, with a 2.2% price increase.

This week’s release of the report highlighted Cape Town’s position at the top end of the Prime International Residential Index (PIRI).

Listed in 14th place out of 100 cities, Cape Town saw an 8.3% increase in prices from December 2015 to December last year.

In a global economy where the value of the world’s leading prime residential markets recorded slower growth, this shows the city is still hot property.

And Joburg’s 36th position also put it in the spotlight.

On average, global values rose by 1.4% last year, compared with 1.8% in 2015, Kate Everett-Allen, head of International Residential Research at Knight Frank, said.

However, the Prime International Residential Index (PIRI) 100 also reveals a “huge gap” of 49 percentage points between the top and bottom ranking, up from 45 in 2015.

The top tier is dominated by cities in China, New Zealand, Canada and Australia, while oil-dependent markets, such as Moscow and Lagos, “bring up the rear”.

“A breakdown of the PIRI 100 by world region, shows that Australasia (+11.4%), Asia (+5.1%) and North America (+4.5%) are the key engines of growth. Europe and the Caribbean sit firmly “mid table”, recording moderate shifts of 0.5% and -0.3%, respectively.

“Latin America (-2.7%), the Middle East (-3.3%), Africa (-3.4%) and Russia/CIS (-5.5%) all recorded negative growth, due to a combination of weak currencies, slowing economies, rising inflation, low oil prices and growing political risk,” EverettAllen said.

The Wealth Report also identified seven hotspots around the world that presented exciting opportunities for private property investors in 2017 and beyond. These are: Miami, US. eBengaluru, India. Berlin, Germany. Amsterdam, Netherlands. Mexico City, Mexico. Austin, US. Melbourne, Australia. The Wealth Report also highlighted where Ultra-HighNet-Worth Individuals (UHNWI) were choosing to settle, based on detailed insights from its Attitudes Survey.

The most important factors for ultra-high-net-worth individuals when choosing where to live included, in order of priority: Lifestyle. Personal security. Safe haven for capital. Education for children. Opportunity for capital appreciation. Health care. Access to transport links. Business reasons.