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Plettenberg Bay rates right up there with the most sought-after property markets along the Atlantic Seaboard and in Gauteng. Its property market is booming, with high demand for houses and semigration driving the increases. Record sales have been recorded since the lifting of the Covid-19 lockdown in June last year.
Mid-September market overview
After a slow start due to the recession, 2020 turned out to be a good year for Plett property but 2021 is set to be ‘the best by far’, according to Steven Neufeld, manager principal of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty Plett.
‘Many sales will still occur, and others await registration, which will change the statistics, but dramatic increases in value are already clear,’ he says
Average values grew by 9% from 2019 to 2020, and then by a significant 38% in 2021 to R3.4 million. From 2019-20, sales increased by 20% to 418, and the total value increased by 30% to R1.058 billion.
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Full-title property increased by only 2.3% from 2019-20, followed by a huge hike of 43% to R3.9 million. From 2019-20 the number of sales increased by 33% to 315, and the total value increased by 37% to R857 million; 2021 already sits at R905 million… and climbing.
Semigration in motion
These increases are attributed in part to high semigration levels of buyers, and a newfound ability to work remotely. There is also a high proportion of local buyers.
Neufeld explains that buyers still predominantly hail from Plett and Gauteng (±30% each; though Gauteng currently leads by a small margin), followed by Cape Town (±12%). International buyers make up about 8% of the market.
‘The current boom was surprising, since economists predicted a considerable post-lockdown decline: -8% was foreseen due to the combination of the recession, national structural problems, and the effects of lockdown.
‘Nothing came of the expected property oversupply, and agents now complain of stock shortages. A 30% decline in properties for sale from June 2020 to September 2021 puts upward pressure on prices,’ he says.
Bring on the billions
Many local agencies are reporting record sales, and Sotheby’s alone has been involved in over R672 million worth of sales since January.
To give this some perspective, the slowest year in Plett in the past decade was 2011, with total sales at R453 million. From 2016-18, totals topped R1 billion before dropping to R812 million in 2019.
The R1 billion mark was breached again last year, and 2021 has already done so by September. Most agents have been unexpectedly busy during the normally quiet winter months.
Records shattered
The record price for residential property (R50 million, in 2006), was this year beaten by a R55 million sale on Beachy Head Drive. Another notable recent sale is an Old Plett home above Lookout Beach reaching R38.35 million.
The highest price in 2020 was R44 million for a beachfront home in a gated estate on Robberg Beach; 2021 already boasts 19 sales above R10 million. Top publicised asking prices for properties now on the market are R75 million for a coastal estate, R28 million for vacant beachfront land in an eco-estate, and R9.5 million for apartments.
Sell or buy?
Hein Pretorius, owner broker of Sotheby’s Plett, says 2021 has been ‘phenomenal’ so far.
‘We’ve already surpassed 2020 sales in the first quarter of this year. The market is doing exceptionally well, with major action in its top end and high building activity. Sought-after gated estates have little or no vacant land left for sale.
‘About a quarter of our stock are apartments versus 60% full title, and generally few high-end flats are built in Plett, which brings averages down.
‘It is a good time to sell as there are buyers around and you can achieve a decent price for your property. If you consider buying, the sooner the better since interest rates are low, asking prices are rising, and Plett will retain its popularity in the long-term.’
