Well known for its Jack Nicklaus master golf course and unique architectural design, what property investors buy into at Pearl Valley Golf Estate is an all encompassing lifestyle package, not easily beaten. Given the mountain and vineyard surroundings combined with homes built on 486 plots measuring an average of 1300m2, state of the art clubhouse with restaurant, bars, pool terrace and spa, property owners can rightly claim to have it all.
At this estate emphasise is placed on the healthy lifestyle options provided to residents for the enjoyment of any number of facilities at their fingertips. In addition to golf, the estate offers cycling and running tracks, riding and stabling of horses, as well as indoor fitness training facilities, leaving little need to spend valuable time travelling for such purposes.
Those who have invested here to live within a tranquil and secure environment suited to family living, also express their pride in the estate’s exceptional status in the world of golf. Long seen as an old hand in achieving top scores, the estate successfully hosted the SA Open for three years from 2007 to 2009, and was awarded Best Golf Estate 2009 by Golf Digest. Further accolades were seen when Golf Digest awarded it 3rd Best Golf Course in SA 2010/2011, and when it won the Complete Golfer - Five Star Golf Experience from 2008 to 2011.
This central Boland location also affords estate residents the luxury of living within close proximity to SA’s prime wine region as well as a number of excellent schools, some with boarding facilities. These and the nearby beaches of Strand and Gordons Bay are all located within easy commuting distances of no more than half an hour by car.
From an investment perspective, although 2011 saw fewer property sales and reduced prices here compared to property boom periods, it does reflect capital growth for those able to have retained their properties in the longer term. Average freehold property prices at Pearl Valley Golf Estate, a member of the Groot Drakenstein Municpality, that started at R1.4 million in 2004, showed upward growth during the following six years to 2010, to R4million. The estate currently holds a national municipal ranking in 100th position, with average freehold values of R5.6 million, similar to that of Toman Close in Hyde Park and Cape Town’s Errinvale Golf Estate. Properties listed for sale range from a north facing plot measuring 1200m2 at R1.450-million in phase 6, to resort lodges at R2.5-million, and luxury homes priced anywhere from at R5 to R22.5-million, while one monthly rental of a freestanding homes is advertised at R25 000.
For those interested in the origins of this Boland town, its boasts a range of cultivars grown in a mild Mediterranean climate, and is home to the Nederburg Wine Estate. The ‘pearl’ mountain, formed by large pieces of granite rock, is also the location of the Afrikaanse Taal Monument, that provides a historic landmark at the country’s third oldest European settlement after Cape Town and Stellenbosch. The town of Paarl now enjoys a firm position on global maps since Mr Nelson Mandela walked to freedom from the local Victor Verster Prison, after 27 years of imprisonment.
