Statistics point to extraordinary growth in property prices in select suburbs of Cape Town, with experienced property commentators adding their collective views on the topic.
CONTRIBUTOR
Is property growth filling a gap in Cape Town?
Statistics point to extraordinary growth in property prices in select suburbs of Cape Town, with experienced property commentators adding their collective views on the topic.
By Gareth Griffiths
IMAGE COURTESY GARETH GRIFFITHS
Observatory Main Road on the Woodstock strip. Does the City encourage urban renewal?
Rental costs have increased, reinforcing the general impression that Cape Town is a desirable and safe investment hub where the right kind of property purchase or new development can deliver handsome returns, even in the short term.
According to Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral committee member for Transport and Urban Development, City of Cape Town,“ Cape Town is a city that works and this is partly why more and more South Africans opt to settle here. We are doing our best to make our city appealing to investors, businesses, and professionals to stimulate the economy and increase employment opportunities.”
The population of Cape Town increased by 56 % between 1996 and 2016 and the number of households has almost doubled in this period. This immense boost to local property has also presented planners with a dilemma: on the one side, investors and the wealthier end of the market are doing fine, but gaps are opening in the supply of housing and rental stock in the middle to lower income bracket housing sectors.
“ A free-market economy – supply and demand – determines prices of goods and services. The same principles apply to the property market. Areas close to key nodes of employment, and routes along new public transport, are increasingly in demand,” says Herron. He admits that it is the job of the City to mitigate against a trend where tenants and other residents who have lived their entire lives in suburbs are threatened with displacement by increasing property prices or displacement for other reasons. The roll out of a complex social housing regime is frustratingly slow, but hopefully the City’ s plans will shortly break ground.
“ The provision of affordable housing opportunities in and around the city centre, in Woodstock and Salt River will be a good start,” he says.
Late in March this year, the City advised its plans to provincial and national government to declare the entire Cape Town a restructuring zone.
This should eliminate any restriction on the City’ s intention to speed up the delivery of affordable housing opportunities. Herron acknowledges that transport for working persons living in affordable housing opportunities is‘ non-negotiable’.“ We aim to create a more integrated and inclusive city where residents have equal access to opportunities,” he notes.
CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
Nearly 40 % of Cape Town’ s population reside in the metro-south east integration zone( MSEIZ). This has one of the highest densities in the city – above 100 units / ha – and
AFFORDABLE
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