The residential rentals market is booming in the Cape metropolitan region, with Pam Golding Properties (PGP) reporting a combination of high demand and stock shortages, even through the traditionally quieter mid-winter months.
PGP’s Cape rentals team concluded several hundred leases in the months from May to July 2014. Western Cape rentals manager Dexter Leite says the high demand is being experienced across all price brackets and in all areas of the city, but most notably in the City Bowl, Atlantic Seaboard and Southern Suburbs. “Clients are prepared to pay a premium for the convenience of living close to their work and the schools of their choice, or for the cosmopolitan beachfront lifestyle they desire,” says Leite. “As a result, landlords are seeing solid rental returns across the spectrum.”
Leite says the demand from tenants includes existing Capetonians as well as those relocating from other provinces, many of whom choose to rent while they assess where they want to buy. “Returning expatriates are another source of demand,” he adds, “as well as corporate clients seeking upmarket accommodation for staff working on long-term contracts in the city.”
In addition to the more traditional residential rentals market, PGP has developed a specialist focus on luxury rental properties, with its well-resourced rentals division equipped to negotiate the sometimes complex lease agreements associated with such homes. “Not only does our very careful screening and selection of clients lead to a very low incidence of defaulting tenants,” says Leite, “but we are now regarded as the service provider of choice for a number of high end clients, both landlord and tenant, as well as by a number of high-profile corporates.”
Among the top-end leases concluded by PGP in recent months are:
- R79 500 per month for a five-bedroomed home in Bantry Bay
- R70 000 and R54 000 per month respectively for two five-bedroomed homes in Bishopscourt
- R65 000 and R52 000 per month respectively for two houses in Camps Bay
- R59 400 for a home in Stonehurst, Tokai
- R50 000 per month for a house in Clifton
- R48 150 per month for an apartment in Mouille Point
- Between R45 000 and R50 000 each per month for five apartments in the V&A Waterfront
- R47 000 per month for a four-bedroomed home in Constantia
- R47 000 per month for a four-bedroomed home in Oranjezicht
- R40 000 and R35 000 per month respectively for two homes in Kenilworth
- R33 500 and R30 000 per month for two homes in Newlands
- R30 000 per month for a home in Rondebosch
Leite expects the current high activity levels to continue and even escalate into the final quarter of the year, across all price ranges. “In the final months of year we always see a surge in interest from the student market,” he says, “as parents seek accommodation for their student children for the following academic year. Areas close to the major tertiary institutions, most notably the City Bowl and Southern Suburbs, will therefore see an upturn in the number of leases being concluded. Even those institutions like the University of Cape Town which do offer on-campus residences can only accommodate so many, with the remainder having to find rental accommodation for the year, preferably within easy commuting distance of the campus, and/or located on the Jammie Shuttle bus route. The Central City is another key area for this market, as it is now home to nearly 50 different educational institutions.”
