Areas and Places

Strandfontein is one of the most stable housing precincts in the Cape, reports Rawson

Strandfontein, the 6,500 home precinct sited on the False Bay coastline between Mitchell’s Plain and Muizenberg East, has, says Theo Rainers, the Rawson Property Group’s franchisee for the area, always been seen as a more upmarket residential area to which many of the upwardly mobile residents of Mitchell’s Plain aspire to move.

“It is definitely viewed as a step-up on the social scale and this is reflected in its slightly higher prices, the size of its homes, the quality of the designs and the size of the plots on which they stand. However, as we are still in a near-recessionary phase, today’s market is slanted in favour of the buyer – a fact some sellers still find difficult to accept,” says Rainers.

Back in 2007, before the global financial crash, Rainers and his team were selling at least twice as many homes per month and he was ranked seventh in the Rawson Property Group’s national earnings competition.

Today, he says, buyers are still thick on the ground, but 50 to 60% are likely to be rejected for home loans by the banks on account of poor credit records and/or too high debt levels of one kind or another – despite the combined earnings of a husband and wife often being very satisfactory.

Today, says Rainers, the majority of his sales are taking place in the R400,000 to R800,000 bracket. Most of the homes sold have three or four bedrooms, of which a few are double storey. On occasions, he says, he can offer a home for sale in Strandfontein for less than R400 000, but this happens only rarely. In some areas, such as Pelican Heights the homes are often valued at over R1 million.

In general, says Rainers, because it is a buyers’ market, most of the buyers are in no hurry to make a decision and before they come to his office, over 50% will have done research on the internet.

Talking generally, says Rainers, the value for money in Strandfontein is exceptionally good.

“We have three or four bedroom homes in some of the more upmarket areas of Strandfontein, such as Old Strandfontein, that are still priced at around R650,000. Up the line, in some of the suburbs closer to Cape Town, this sort of home would often be priced at double that. I personally sold a property in Seagull Road, Pelican Heights this year for a record price of R1,7 million within one month of receiving the mandate.”

Due to relatively few people being able to buy and/or to qualify for bonds, the rental market in Strandfontein, says Rainers, is flourishing. His franchise manages a portfolio of over 60 residential properties and is adding to them month-by-month. On many of these, he says, the returns are 2 or 3% higher than those of properties closer to the city. He can often get an 8 or 9% return from day one on less expensive units and, he assures potential clients, “like all good agents we are meticulous about checking credit and previous rental records”.

Some idea of the value obtainable in Strandfontein these days can be gained from the following properties currently being marketed by Theo Rainers’ team:

  • A four bedroom, single storey home in Frigate Road. Priced at R695,000, this home has a separate lounge/dining area, a fully fitted kitchen and a lock-up garage. 
  • A three bedroom home in Clipper Road situated on a 407 m2 erf at R650,000.

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