Fresnaye shows 76% growth in four years

FRESNAYE house prices are up by 76% over four years, with the latest luxury estate listing for a record R185 million (

The suburb has been in demand for freehold property which boosted full title selling, says Lance Cohen, Seeff agent for the area.

Any well-priced property, especially below the R20m price mark, is still snapped up quite quickly. Where full title property sold for on average R7.2m in 2012, the price now stands at a R14.923m, outranked only by its neighbours, Clifton and Bantry Bay overall.

But Fresnaye topped these two areas in terms of the overall volume and value of sales over the last few years. The full title sector comprises about 60% of total market stock, says Cohen.

Total sales for last year amounted to just under R640m.

Attributing factors, says Cohen, include the location – being on the doorstep of everything that the Atlantic seaboard and city bowl offers, including the V&A Waterfront, beaches, restaurants, hospitals, good schools and evening entertainment venues.

Cohen says buyers have largely been residential rather than for investment purposes. Families are buying into the area and according to Cohen most are in the 36-49 year age bracket with only about 10% younger than that age group.

Less than 5% of sales were to foreign buyers, and these sales amounted to just over R42.2m.

The average time on the market is around six weeks, and the average difference between asking and selling prices is around 15.2%.

Since the start of last year, 10 homes priced above R20m were concluded in the suburb. In the sectional title sector, some 60% of all sales were above R5m, achieving a price per m² of R50 000 to R54 500.