Located only about an hour from Cape Town, Pringle Bay on the Western Cape’s Whale Coast enjoys much the same attributes plus a property market at a similar stage Noordhoek experienced some 10 years or more ago, says Nicola Lloyd, sales agent for Pam Golding Properties.
“Pringle Bay has a countrified air about it, a tranquil long beach and homes that still offer value for money. It is also definitely becoming seen more as a satellite suburb of the Cape Town metropole just like Noordhoek was a decade ago”.
“With Pringle House primary school growing, buses available to the Curro School in Onrus and two new schools in Somerset West and Strand, we are seeing an increase in young families moving here permanently to enjoy the more relaxed way of life. We also find that the cost of property in the Cape Town metropolitan area is encouraging buyers to look a little further afield to areas still within an hour’s commute of the city and offering good value for money. Interestingly 42 percent of recent buyers in Pringle Bay are under 50 years, and 44 percent in nearby Rooi Els”.
“There’s a marked increase in demand for vacant stands which are currently available between R375 000 and R600 000 for 600sqm and upwards, while homes in the R1.5 million to R2.5 million price band are selling well.”
Indicative of the demand for vacant plots, and according to Lightstone, during 2016, in Pringle Bay 30 new home building plans were approved representing a total value of R56.072 million, while in 2015 24 new plans were approved to a total value of over R80 million.
Lloyd says seafront property in Pringle Bay remains sought after and fetches between R7 million and R12.5 million. At present Pam Golding Properties is marketing a very attractive waterfront home right on the river, priced at R6.75 million.
“Right now there’s a severe shortage of stock with the majority demand in the price bracket below R2 million. Given the high demand and limited choice in Pringle Bay at present, Rooi Els offers well located property for your rand”.
“Although traditionally Rooi Els has been perceived as more exclusive than Pringle Bay, being elevated on a mountain slope with easy 180 degree sea views from most properties, it is currently offering well positioned properties which offer good value. In Pringle Bay it is more difficult to achieve close proximity to the waterfront with sea views for the same prices“.
“Historically in Pringle Bay, the oldest homes were located in the best positions. Since then the village has gone through a significant period of buyers investing in older seafront properties and either substantially renovating and expanding or completely demolishing these homes in order to erect large modern homes designed to suit their lifestyle requirements”.
“This trend is starting to occur in Rooi Els and we are currently marketing two older homes with potential for renovation and situated in prime seafront positions, each selling for R3.85 million. No seafront vacant stands are available in Rooi Els.”
Lloyd says an interesting aspect of Pringle Bay is that it has the advantage of being almost like an ‘estate’ with one entrance and exit point, which is beneficial from a security point of view.
“However both Pringle Bay and Rooi Els have surveillance cameras installed at the entrance points to the villages, which are linked with a security system. Pringle Bay offers a ‘virtual security estate’ scenario, although neither village is fenced or walled. Both villages also have active neighbourhood watch initiatives”.
“What also makes these villages attractive is the fact that they can’t expand beyond their current sizes. The township boundaries are set because they are located in the UNESCO proclaimed World Heritage Site of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve”.
Gauteng buyers are also still very evident in the Pringle Bay and Rooi Els property markets. “About 50 percent of our buyers are now from Gauteng or KwaZulu-Natal and looking to relocate here permanently. We also see considerable interest from the Cape metro area for holiday or permanent residential purposes. Also increasingly common are more and more younger retirees who are still in their 50s and early retired and planning to live on the coast in the future. They acquire a holiday home now with a view to living here permanently in the future, which means these villages are no longer solely seen as holiday destinations.”
Lightstone statistics reveal the popularity of buyers, with 112 sales during 2016 totalling R117 million in value, with five sales in excess of R5 million and 37 sales comprising vacant land. The average house price in Pringle Bay for the period was R1.2 million. In Rooi Els there were 23 sales to the value of R61.73 million, also with five transactions over R5 million, five vacant land sales and an average house price of R7.58 million. Lloyd points out however that this average price was skewed by one huge sale of a house for R20 million.
Pam Golding Properties recently sold a large, older home situated within metres of the rocks in Rooi Els and with spectacular sea views for R2.8 million, while in Pringle Bay they sold a new, modern four bedroom home about 10 minutes from the beach and with very distant sea views, which fetched the same amount.
