Author: Editor

Despite the recent slowdown in home sales in Cape Town which has seen many real estate companies scale down their operations, Chas Everitt International franchisees are investing in new offices in the metro in anticipation of a substantial turnaround in the not-too-distant future.

One of these is the new high-visibility operation in Constantia Village, at the heart of a plush heritage area that has been particularly hard-hit over the past 18 months by emigration, the stagnant economy and a decline in the number of upcountry and foreign purchasers.

“This will further strengthen our strong position and interest in Constantiaberg area where we already have offices in Tokai and Bergvliet,” says Chas Everitt Constantia principal Sally Gracie, “and will be used to expand our penetration of the upmarket belt along the mountain slopes from Constantia and Bishopscourt to Newlands.

Home prices here, as in many other areas known for their high-end real estate, have tumbled by as much as 30% as demand dried up, but well-heeled buyers are now beginning to see the opportunities inherent in this situation, she says, and sales are set to improve significantly in the coming summer “season”

“It also doesn’t hurt that we’ve had very good rains this winter which have filled up our dams and put an end to the drought and the threat of Day Zero which hung over Cape town for so long.”

Gracie says there has been a very positive response to the new office, with lots of walk-in custom from both local sellers and buyers interested in listings in this area. It has also prompted enquiries from several top local estate agents keen to join the group.

“We have exclusive mandates to sell some exceptional properties in Constantia (see photos) and Newlands and in the few weeks that we’ve been open have already made our first sales. We will shortly also have a team operating in Claremont.”

Meanwhile, the Ballan Group, which owns the Chas Everitt International franchises in George, Knysna and Sedgefield, has just opened a trendy new office in Bloubergrand on Cape Town’s west coast, under the leadership of sales manager Leonard Coetzee.

Named Chas Everitt Blouberg Metro, it covers a huge area – including Melkbosstrand, Table View, Parkland, Parklands North and Blouberg – that is generating well over 2000 home sales a year worth a total of at least R4,3bn, despite the current oversupply of new developments that is keeping a lid on prices.

“This part of Cape Town has become increasingly popular with local buyers over the past few years because it offers lower prices, a great beach lifestyle, excellent private schools and easy access to the city via public transport. Many people relocating to Cape Town from Gauteng and other inland provinces have also chosen to live here because of its relative affordability compared to the rest of the metro,” he says.

“It also appeals to a very broad spectrum of buyers, with apartment prices starting from around R750 000, home prices generally ranging from around R1,6m up to about R7,5m and exceptional beachfront properties going for as much as R25m. And we believe it is set for a significant revival within the next few months.”

As it is, he notes, the office has also notched up several sales in the few weeks it has been open and plans to have a total of at least 15 sales agents in the field by the end of the year.

Issued by Chas Everitt International

For more information contact

Sally Gracie on 021 712 5029 or

Leonard Coetzee on 021 204 9914

Chas Everitt Cape Town South’s representative Andre de Villiers will be attending this Dublin event and participating in various networking events.

The Irish economy is booming! The appetite for second properties is now significantly higher than a few years ago and while closer destinations a few hours away are obviously the main attraction, many Irish buyers are familiar with Cape Town where they have family and friends and the “fly south for the winter” market is not resistant to a select number who are not averse to an overnight flight.

Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl hardest hit by declining prices.
The much anticipated FNB Property Barometer is available to read here Property barometer – CPT – Aug

For your free property valuation click here

Sixty security staff have been appointed to guard tourists in Table Mountain National Park, two weeks after a Russian tourist’s murder.

Tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane met the 60 white-gloved guards on Thursday at Kloof Nek, in the shadow of Table Mountain’s northern face.

Their numbers will be boosted to 86 in October, and cameras and drones will join the anti-crime effort from December.

James Vos, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for economic opportunities, said he was delighted by the deployment of the guards.

“Table Mountain is a leading tourist attraction on the African continent with local and global significance,” he said. “We need to make sure that we protect and promote our tourism sector. It is the backbone of our economy and job creation, with almost 300,000 Capetonians employed in this sector.”

Source

Women’s Day in South Africa is a different date to the rest of the world.  Women’s Day in South Africa marks the anniversary of the great women’s march of 1956, where women marched to the Union Buildings to protest against the carrying of pass books.

On 9 August 1956, about 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against legislation aimed at tightening the apartheid government’s control over the movement of black women in urban areas.

The earliest Women’s Day observance, called “National Woman’s Day,”was held on February 28, 1909, in New York, organised by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel.

In August 1910, an International Socialist Women’s Conference was organised in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspired in part by the American socialists, German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an annual Women’s Day although no date was specified at that conference. Delegates (100 women from 17 countries) agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women.

The following year on March 19, 1911, IWD was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.  In the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations. In Vienna, women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to hold public office. They also protested against employment sex discrimination.

The Americans continued to celebrate National Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February.

Chas Everitt Cape Town South pays tribute to the fact that the real estate industry remains one where so many women have not only been welcome but have excelled and in so many company’s have taken the lead.