Garden Route emerges as country's new property hot spot

The Garden Route, which was fast becoming SA's latest relocation hot spot before the pandemic disruption, has seen its market rebound encouragingly since the beginning of June when hard lockdown ended, with agencies reporting above average and even record months.

In Plettenberg Bay, the renewed activity was almost immediate, with a number of offices recording their best-ever sales for the month July, whilst in neighbouring George and Knysna, recovery was a little slower but encouragingly strong.

According to Sheena Mare, Broker Principal in Knysna and Sedgefield for Lew Geffen, Sotheby's International Realty, Covid-19 impacted the market in this scenic town 'very hard' with sales down by 80% for April and May, but by June they were achieving average year-on-year sales with August being a bumper, above average month.

"Properties under the R2 million mark are most in demand and those that are well-priced and require little renovation are selling quickly.

"Most of our buyers are families with school-going children and retirees relocating to the garden Route for lifestyle reasons and the sellers are predominantly retirees and empty nesters who are downsizing or moving to retirement accommodation and locals who are up or down-sizing."

This is corroborated by current Lightstone data which shows that 47% of all recent sellers were aged 65 years and older whilst 37% of buyers were aged between 36 and 49 and 12% were 35 or younger.

And, despite three very slow months, Lightstone data further shows that the median sale prices for freestanding homes, sectional title properties and vacant land in Knysna all rose this year, from R1.4m to R1.6m, R835 000 to R895 000 and R500 000 to R585 000 respectively.

Steven Neufeld, Manager Principal at the group's Plettenberg Bay office, believes that the better-than-expected spark of renewed activity is largely due to pent-up demand and low interest rates.

"Prices have remained relatively stable this year despite the lockdown lull, but when one considers the difference in the monthly bond repayment with the current interest rate and the fact that most people had to postpone all moving plans for several months, it's not that surprising that  some properties are now achieving full asking price.

"We also achieved an annual record sale price this year, with the sale of a R44m home in a beachfront gated estate which was brokered by our Broker Principal, Hein Pretorius."

"I think that Covid-19 has caused a lot of people to be more introspective and to re-evaluate their priorities," says Pretorius, "which has contributed to the current influx of enquiries. Plett is truly a special place to visit or to live which, in property terms, translates into one of the best performing markets in the country."

According to George and Wilderness Principal, Tim Kirby, market activity in the growing town is currently "good and almost back to normal".

"Activity is still slightly subdued when measured against pre-July 2019 when we were experiencing an almost buying frenzy, but there has been a notable uptick since June and we are receiving a stream of enquiries from a wide range of buyers from around the country.

"A very encouraging emergent trend which we hope will become established, is the growing number of young, professional families from Cape Town, Gauteng and the Free State who are moving into the George area.

"With Covid-19 normalising working from home, more people are now able to run their businesses remotely and are in search of a better quality of life for themselves and their young children."

As with neighbouring towns, properties in the R900 000 to R2.5m price bands have been most sought-after in recent months, but Kirby says that with their office now closing a number of deals for homes priced above R4m, he is cautiously optimistic for the rest of the year.

Neufeld believes that the revival of the semigration trend post-lockdown will further bolster the Garden Route market.

"This coastal region has become very popular with buyers from Gauteng and Cape Town especially, and their ongoing interest continues to strengthen the market so although property prices have not risen exponentially, property prices are well above national averages even though affordability is relatively low."