Lifestyle and weak rand keep Ballito buoyant over the holidays and into 2016
Andreas Wassenaar, Licensee and Principal Seeff Dolphin Coast, reports that the holiday home areas on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast were exceptionally busy over the season: “Our Seeff Ballito agents were busy every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Ballito has grown into a regional hotspot and many areas are now categorised by residential estates which are dominated by people owning their primary residential homes in the greater Ballito area, while other areas are known as holiday home-dominated areas or suburbs”. He says that while key markets for the KZN North Coast remain people from Gauteng and Pretoria, a new surge of buyers are those that are making decisions from a US Dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling based position. “We have seen buyers making decisions to purchase local real estate as soon as the Rand : US Dollar exchange rate breached the 15:1 threshold. Our local properties appear particularly good value at the current exchange rate.” Since the timing of sales over the holiday season is spread over the first quarter of the following year (2016), so a true picture of how busy the area was in sales over that period can only be assessed at the end of the first quarter. Adds Wassenaar: “In real estate the decision-making process typically takes a while – a good experience over the December period in a certain location often leads to sales several months later.” For SA locals who move to Ballito, lifestyle is the trump card: “Demand and growth for property within the greater Ballito area is driven by a migration to the area from Gauteng and Pretoria as people decide to move their families and businesses for lifestyle reasons. If businesses cannot be moved, then the decision is often made to commute on a weekly basis. Migration northwards from Durban suburbs will also continue as people make the choice to explore the better value and impressive gated communities that the north coast around Ballito has to offer.” Wassenaar gives his outlook for property in the area for 2016: “We expect this demand to continue. We also expect a pipeline of new developments to come on stream over the next 12 months, adding to the supply. Building costs are expected to escalate faster with the weaker Rand, making the imported content of a typical residential home more expensive. The scarcity of vacant land will increase significantly and land prices will lead the growth in existing home prices. With the scarcity of new land, many people will buy up existing homes in order to secure the location, and then over time renovate or rebuild new homes on the sites. “Interest rates are expected to increase during the course of the year, and this will start to have an impact on the first-time buyer market, with properties in the R800 000 to R1.5m range being most affected by the higher cost of money. The higher-end markets such as Zimbali Coastal Resort are not expected to be affected by the current interest rate cycle. “We expect approximately R2bn in residential property to change hands over the next 12 months along the KZN Dolphin Coast, and Seeff Dolphin Coast is well positioned to service that market.” Contact Andreas Wassenaar, Principal – Seeff Dolphin Coast, on 082 837 9094, email andreasw@seeff.com. See also andreaswassenaar.blogspot.com.
