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South Africa: Where to Buy

Overview

Foreigners buy property in all parts of South Africa. For example, people wanting to get away from it all and commune with nature might opt for an isolated farmhouse in the semi-desert Karoo area in the middle of the country or a cottage near one of South Africa’s many wildlife parks. However, the great majority of foreigners buy property in the three areas detailed below.

Potential buyers should note that South Africa’s planning regulations, although strict in theory, aren’t properly enforced in many areas and some property developers, in their eagerness to cash in on the country’s booming property market, ignore the rules, banking on the fact that many small municipalities don’t have enough staff to police building in their area. It’s proving difficult for the government to remedy this situation centrally, as the constitution devolves planning jurisdiction to provinces and municipalities. The result is that a few areas – notably parts of the coast near Cape Town and Durban – are in danger of overdevelopment.

Cape Town

The Cape Town area is the most popular part of South Africa with foreign buyers, despite recent price increases. It offers a wide choice of property type and suburb, from rambling mansions in leafy, rural Constantia, to cottages overlooking deserted beaches on the Cape Peninsula or penthouse apartments in central Cape Town’s vibrant V & A Waterfront.

City Bowl

The centre of Cape Town is called the City Bowl, and it has some attractive residential areas, including increasingly trendy Bo-Kaap, with its distinctive, colourful Cape Malay properties and Muslim community. Only a decade ago you could buy a small house or apartment in Bo-Kaap for as little as R40,000 (£3,500), but gentrification of the area and an influx of ‘yuppie’ buyers have seen the value of such properties skyrocket to around R1 million (£87,000).

Gardens Suburb

South of the City Bowl lies the Gardens suburb, close to Long Street and Kloof Street, with some of the city’s best restaurants and the location of the world-famous Mount Nelson Hotel, at which taking Sunday tea is a Cape Town institution (if you can find a table). Apartments and small houses cost in the range of R745,000 (£64,780) to R1.95 million (£169,565).