Cape’s luxury mansions attracting foreign buyers
FOREIGN buyers and Gautengers are snapping up R40 million plus Cape properties despite what estate agents are calling a “weak luxury market”.
Chairperson of the Seeff Property Group, Samuel Seeff, said the company achieved a record R1.7 billion in sales in March, the highest in the group’s 57-year history.
“We have seen increased activity from foreign buyers at the high-end price levels and clinched the R45m sale of a penthouse to a German buyer at the Waterfront, the highest price achieved here in close to eight years.
“Overall sales to foreign buyers across Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl are a whopping 36% higher compared to 2019 and the highest in the past three years.
“Almost one-third of all high value sales have been to foreign buyers who have paid some of the highest prices.”
Seeff said the company was in the process of concluding an even higher value sale in Plettenberg Bay to a buyer from the UK which will be one of the highest prices ever achieved for residential property in the town.
This follows a recent R36m sale to a UAE buyer in Fresnaye, several sales in Camps Bay, and two R20m-plus sales in Constantia Upper to buyers from Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively.
RE/MAX Southern Africa chief executive Adrian Goslett said the Cape’s luxury market has always held a wide appeal, attracting international buyers and local investors alike.
“More recently, as a result of the changes brought about by Covid19, the area has gained increased popularity among Johannesburg buyers who are drawn to the safe, active outdoor lifestyle Cape Town has to offer.”
RE/MAX Living estate agent Talitha Finkay said many of her buyers for properties in the Tamboerskloof and Camps Bay areas come from Gauteng.
“I am currently working with a buyer who lives in Sandhurst and who so loves being able to walk in Cape Town, something they say they can’t do from their multi-million rand home in Johannesburg.”
Meanwhile, Cape Town’s lifestyle is drawing interest from remote workers from around the world.
The city’s municipal bosses and economic agencies such as Cape Town Tourism have recently upped the ante to get the word out to both the international and domestic markets that the Metro is open for business.
Both organisations have partnered to promote the Digital Nomad Initiative to attract remote workers. They are also lobbying the South African government to introduce a “Remote Working Visa”.
According to Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management, James Vos: “It’s essential that the local travel and hospitality sector adapts given the devastation wrought by Covid-19. The remote worker home-away-from home concept is ideal in this regard.”