Areas and Places

Lower Constantia prices and demand increasing

In the last four months, three homes have been sold in the Lower Constantia area, by rookie agent, Caryn Gillman, (which by any standards is something to be commended) and, says Lanice Steward, managing director of Knight Frank Anne Porter, it seems that this area has become one where values and demand are increasing steadily, perhaps even a little more than expected. 

The view from the patio of a home in Lower Constantia with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, which is priced at R8,9 million.

The view from the patio of a home in Lower Constantia with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, which is priced at R8,9 million.

Prices in the Lower Constantia area, while always seeming lower than those of Upper Constantia are by no means “cheap”, said Gillman.  The three homes sold were priced at R4,95 million (sold for R4,4m), R3,5 million (sold for R3,15m) and R2,7 million (which sold at a price of R2,45m).  All of these homes are family homes, with three to four bedrooms, two or three bathrooms and, while the two lower priced homes had garages, the highest priced home, surprisingly, did not have a garage.

This shows that this area, while seeming the “lower” end of an area, is still commanding high prices and it looks like prices here are set to rise steadily as it is much in demand, said Gillman.

According to PropStats, the Institute of Estate Agents, Western Cape, property data service, there was R390 million worth of property sold in the Constantia area from January to March this year, and the average price for this area was R6 303 000 for that period.

When compared to the figures of the same period in 2012, there were 39 properties with a value of R201,465 million sold, and the average price was R5 301 000.

When comparing year on year figures it shows that the average price of Constantia homes is still increasing by a healthy percentage, said Gillman.

The branding that estate agents gave the areas of Lower and Upper Constantia (with the exception of the top upper bracket homes) seems now to be defunct, she said.

“The dividing line between pricing in Constantia, on comparing the pricing in various pockets seems to be disappearing,” said Gillman.

When asked about homes for sale in the Lower Constantia area, Gillman said the highest priced house she has listed on her books is a four bedroom home priced at R8,9 million (which is on a 3 000m² plot) and there are now other houses on the market in the same area at prices in the R10 million category.

Asked to list a few of the properties she has on her books as examples, she mentioned:

–       A three bedroom, two bathroom home with great entertainment areas priced at R4,5 million;

–       A face-brick home looking over a green belt with four bedrooms and three bathrooms for R5,5 million; and

–       A spacious home in a monitored security complex priced at R6 450 000, which has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

“You still have the extremes of upper areas and lower areas, and the upper and lower priced sections within those areas, but there is a broad band of merging prices in the middle of Constantia,” she said.  “Whichever section of Constantia a buyer looks at now, is likely to be a good investment proposition.”

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