Reporter: Well if you're looking to buy a house and thinking about the neighbourhood specifically, look no further. Private Property has recently launched an exciting campaign called Neighbourhoods, where, by logging onto their website, you can explore the different neighbourhoods in South Africa, to help you decide which one will suit you and your needs the best. Our property expert Simon Bray, Private Property CEO, is going to discuss another neighbourhood - the Western Seaboard. I've been living there for a couple of years now, but from a property expert point of view, what makes this kind of neighbourhood so attractive? I know from the get go we've got the sea, the beach is right there.
Simon Bray: The lifestyle's great, you've got the beach, you've got the scenery, there's always an epic view of Table Mountain, so you just get this feel of Cape Town but from a different angle. And I think there's a lot of other things driving the lifestyle in that area. Great shopping centres, great schools, there's a good sense of community out there, which I think is what drives a lot of people towards that area. If you go down there on a windy day and see those kites across the beach, it's really beautiful. I don't think people realise it's one of the premier kite surfing beaches anywhere in the world. A lot of people are coming into that environment and experiencing what that natural beach has got to offer.
Let's talk some property for a moment now. What does this area offer?
I think the Cape Town market has been a great growth story for South African property prices nationally, so a lot of people are moving into Cape Town from other regions in South Africa and from around the world, and that has pushed the property values up across the Cape Town region. And I think the great story about Western Seaboard is that it hasn't really affected that environment yet. It's still great value property. Affordability, and convenience are the words when you think about Table View, Blouberg, Wilmington and those areas. I think for first time buyers, for South African local residents, for middle income families, it's really important to have that value option, and as close to Cape Town as this area is, so you can live and work in those areas without compromising your lifestyle. I think that's what's driving the property market on Western Seaboard.
I think it's also great, especially for a family just starting out, if you're wanting to get in to the property market. But what about those investors maybe looking to buy property to rent out? Is it a good area to look at?
As I mentioned a lot of focus is on areas like Atlantic Seaboard, and the idea is that you're going to get great capital growth. And that's true, but it just depends on what baseline you start. An apartment here in Atlantic Seaboard is going to set you back between two and three million, you can buy a three-bedroom house for that across the way in Blouberg. So it's really a good value option for investors to look at. And I think what's great is when you look at that, it all becomes about rental yield, right? So investment in that area-- you're buying a three-bedroom, six-month title unit, say at R1.5 milion, R1.8million. Your bond repayments on that are just over R16,000 a month, and the average rentals in the area are going between R17,000 and R18,000 a month, so there's great opportunity to pay the initial costs from day one. As an investment market it's particularly attractive.
All in all, I think a great area to invest in, but of course you want to be comfortable. If you are going to be living on that side, talk about the kind of people that you will find, specifically the Western Seaboard side, the people buying there, needing to commute to town. What are the type of people that we are looking at?
When we chose to profile the Western Seaboard on the site, we obviously picked the stereotypical kind of resident. And we've got this great guy that runs a kite surfing shop on the Western Seaboard, and he lives and works in the area. But your typical resident in those areas actually travels and commutes to Cape Town CBD every day. And that's a great element of living there, is the access to the CBD. It's only 15kms away. You've got the bus routes that run as well. So a lot of the people that choose to live out there are people that live and work in Cape Town, but want the feeling of space and value that they get out there.
Lastly, what is your tip of the day when it comes to looking at that as a neighbourhood?
If you're in the Cape Town region and you're looking for a good value opportunity and a great investment potential, then you should definitely consider the Western Seaboard and the suburbs that surround that area.
