Pinelands, the original garden city is seeing both young and old move in to the area, as they are attracted to the convenient location and reasonable prices.
Pinelands in Cape Town is witnessing two concurrent yet seemingly disparate phenomena: buyers are getting younger even as the average price of homes in the suburb climbs, while a new development Pinelands Grove Retirement Village, is taking shape on Sunrise Road.
The average price of a Pinelands home is R2.5m. Rental prices start at R12 000/month for smaller three-bedroom homes and can reach R25 000 at the top of the range.
The suburb has long been a favourite with families, thanks to its quick access to good primary and high schools, sporting facilities and shops. Property data and analytics company Lightstone indicates that about 42% of recent buyers in Pinelands are under 35 years old. It also reveals that in the past two years about 225 transactions, worth just less than R294m, have been concluded – and with good capital year-on-year capital appreciation of 17,5%.
The demand is now such that correctly priced homes and those priced below R2.5m seldom go on show or stay on the market for more than a month.
Says Johan Meyer, licensee: Seeff Pinelands, “The number of visitors to our show houses when a Pinelands property first comes on the market has more than doubled and the number of enquiries, depending on asking price, via our online portals has increased threefold year on year. The demand is now such that correctly priced homes and those priced below R2.5m seldom go on show or stay on the market for more than a month. Stock levels are down considerably, with very few homes in the R2m-to-R3m price range on offer.” According to Barry Peterson, director: Pinelands Grove Securitisation, the 218-unit Pinelands Grove Retirement Village development was the result of lobbying by the local ratepayers association, which pushed for the development of a retirement village rather than residential apartments and student housing,
“It took us one and a half years to increase the bulk from 3 000m2 to 12 800m2, as well as full community participation and an approved energy feed,” says Peterson, noting that by today’s standards this was relatively quick. “We would have struggled without the ratepayers’ association and we enjoyed enormous support because there is such a big need.”
Pinelands Grove, an integrated 218-unit development, came about due to lobbying by the local ratepayers’ association, which pushed for the development of a retirement village rather than residential apartments or student housing, according to Barry Peterson, director of the developer Pinelands Grove Securitisation. “It took us one and a half years to increase the bulk from 3 000m2 to 12 800m2 as well as full community participation and an approved energy feed,” says Peterson, noting that by today’s standards this was relatively quick. “We would have struggled without the enormous support of the ratepayers’ association,” he adds.
Retirement accommodation is in short supply and the launch of a new retirement development will help meet this growing demand, says Bev Bloch, Pam Golding Properties development sales executive in the Western Cape metro region. “Construction is well under way,” Bloch says. “Pinelands Grove Retirement Village is scheduled for completion in December this year and occupation is scheduled for February 2016.
“The units are being sold on a life-rights basis, and the retirement village will be managed by the Cape Peninsula Organisation for the Aged.”
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This article originally appeared in Neighbourhood, Sunday Times.
