“It appears that residential property developments in South Africa are fast becoming popular with 2013 expected to see investors buying this asset class.”
This was said recently by John Loos, the highly respected FNB property economist – and nowhere is it more evident than on Rawson Developers recently launched “The Beaumont” in Claremont, Cape Town.
Ninety one out of 179 apartments of this development had, by the 9th of December 2012, been sold (within just two and a half weeks of the launch). Sales, said Paul Henry, Managing Director of Rawson Developers, are likely to continue steadily as the on-site sales team has stayed on duty throughout the holiday period.
“We have not seen a bull run like this since the launch of one of our previous developments in the Southern Suburbs, “Rondebosch Oaks”, in 2008. It looks very much as if astute investors are again realizing the value of bricks and mortar in high demand areas such as Claremont, where rental demand now outstrips supply and yields of 7% are easily achieved from the day the first tenant takes occupation.”
Henry added that developments like “The Beaumont”, positioned one block from the Cavendish Square shopping centre, tend to follow the same sales pattern that beachfront plots in the few really good coastal developments do. As soon as they are sold out, the original investors will see significant appreciation.
“The Beaumont” consists of 179 apartments in two blocks next to each other. One block is 12 storeys high and the other has five storeys. The taller of the two blocks will be one of the tallest buildings in Claremont and its apartments will offer magnificent mountain views. One hundred and five have balconies from which these can be enjoyed. The ‘extras’ in the scheme include an elaborate upmarket foyer with a concierge on duty 24 hours a day, underfloor heating, heated towel rails, granite kitchen tops and sink consoles in the bathrooms.
Two of the more expensive penthouses on the top level of the 12 storey building, priced at R4,2 million and R4,9 million, have already been sold. The price range on the remaining units now varies from R850,000 to R3,995,000.
“We are confident that most of the apartments will be sold by the time Rawson Construction begins work on the double level basement parking,” said Henry. “This should be during April this year, with handovers of the apartments scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2015. A huge cost saving to purchasers of all units will be achieved by the use of heat pumps in the basement instead of the conventional hot water cylinders for each apartment. Continuous hot water will be available at much lower prices as a result of this.”
A portion of the ground floor of the building will house two retail sections, each with approximately 250 m2 of floor area. These are both for sale.
“Purchasers of the retail portion will be carefully screened and we give potential buyers our assurance that we will select only those businesses suitable for our upmarket development,” said Henry.
Prices of all units in “The Beaumont”, he added, are fixed and cost increases will be absorbed by the developer.
Rawson Developers have sold approximately 600 apartments in and around this Southern Suburbs node, their pricing strategy from the start having been to keep units affordable to the average middle class buyer.
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