Seaside village homes and lifestyle estates: The shift in property prices
By Koketso Mamabolo The latest property numbers present a fascinating insight into how demand is being shaped by more than just affordability. In May this year, StatsSA released its Residential Property Price Index, the yardstick which measures how the price of residential properties changes at the national, provincial and metropolitan levels, revealing how prices continue to rise. Annual national inflation was sitting at 6.1% in May, up from 5.8% in April. The biggest contributor was the Western Cape with 9.4%. At the metro level Cape Town contributed the most at 8.1%. But this doesn’t mean buyers have lost their appetite. The numbers for properties sold to first-time buyers increased by 4.4% year-on-year, evidence that there is still fresh demand despite higher headline prices. The same is true over the long term. According to BetterBond’s Property Insights, the average home price has increased by 10.7% since 2019. The average home now costs R1.6-million. And yet, since the fourth quarter of 2023 the number of home loan applications has gone up by 26%.A lower prime lending rate and five successive cuts to the repo rate have driven the 14.6% year-on-year increase in applications. Economists expect inflation to remain at the lower end of the Reserve Bank’s target making it likely that the growth will continue. With lower borrowing costs the narrative has shifted toward a buyer’s market, at least for the moment. Growth rates for all buyers are lower than the Consumer Price Index and right now residential property is a sound investment and the Western Cape is leading the way. The Western Cape accounts for 38 percent of the value of residential building plans passed in the country nationally, and the province has recorded double digit figure year-on-year growth. “The Western Cape has shown greater property appreciation and higher rental yields than the rest of the country due to semi-migration,” says Marc Rodrigues of the Delta Property Group.“The province experienced a surge in demand as remote work increased and people moved to towns that are well run.” While the beaches and mountain views remain powerful draw cards, people are also looking for service delivery, schools, retail centres, gyms etc. In short, they’re looking for a lifestyle. Whether that be a home in the city, or a holiday home on the coast of a world-renowned tourist destination. Scarborough is an interesting example which highlights a significant trend that is somewhat unique to the Western Cape. The seaside village recorded almost 70 percent of purchases in 2024 by foreign buyers, according to Lightstone Property. The same is true across the province, and these properties are well above the R1.6-million national average. More than 40 percent of the residential property purchases above R10-million were made by foreign buyers, and the top 22 suburbs in the country favoured by foreign buyers are all in the Western Cape. Couple this with the rise of the digital nomads and semi-migration and it’s clear why developers are not holding back. Cape Town’s CBD is reaping the benefits. Current estimates by the Cape Central Improvement District value investment at just over R9-billion across 27 developments at various stages. Forty four percent of those projects are residential, and seven are mixed-use, highlighting the demand for urban living, not just little paradises on the Atlantic seaboard. The country’s largest metropolitan area, Johannesburg, has seen success in gated communities with the perks they bring. Property developer Paul Tedder has found a similar demand for lifestyle-focused properties in the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, as semi-migration from the province’s north coast picks up due to various factors. “The value proposition of gated communities is undeniable. They offer peace of mind and sense of community that many buyers now prioritise,” explains Tedder. When buyers are chasing scenery, rental yields or a lifestyle pivot to remote-friendly towns, they look to the coast. For those looking to settle in the city or its outskirts, Cape Town’s CBD offers many options, with more to come, and the suburbs of Johannesburg remain a compelling option for the schools and proximity to the heartbeat of the country’s economy. Buyers have more options and Marc Rodrigues advises sellers to price homes correctly to avoid losing out. Sources: BetterBond Property Brief | StatsSA RPPI | Lightstone Property | The State of Cape Town Central City Report
The greatest? Gerda Steyn’s great run to the top
By Koketso Mamabolo One day a 24-year-old quantity surveyor from the Free State laced up her takkies to join a running a club in Dubai. She was hoping to meet people and make friends. Little did Gerda Steyn know that she had written the first letter of her name into South African road running history. That was in 2014. She came 14th in her first Comrades, only two years after she first fell in love with running. Four years later she burst onto the scene, winning the Two Oceans marathon. “No-one can touch her,” says fellow competitor, friend and Hollywood Athletic Club teammate, Carla Molinaro, in the SuperSport documentary, Breaking records, the Gerda Steyn story. Carla calls Gerda the best road ultra runner in the world and it’s easy to tell why: She holds both the Comrades and the Two Oceans marathon records and can’t stop winning. The former is the oldest and largest ultramarathon in the world. A grueling 89km test of the limits of human ability. The latter, a more modest 56km, is made only less daunting by the beautiful scenery which sets the backdrop for thousands of runners, from the elite like Carla and Gerda, to the people ticking things off their bucket lists or testing their own limits. She does both with what looks like relative ease, always ready to share a smile with the spectators who cheer her on as she glides along winding rounds and punishing hills. “She is phenomenal, I don’t even know how many she’s won,” says Carla. Three Comrades and six consecutive Two Oceans marathons, to be exact. She has a special mix of brains, speed and endurance, says Bruce Fordyce, road running legend and nine-time Comrades winner, who almost cried when congratulating her after her Comrades win in 2024, when she broke the women’s record. After a disappointing showing in the standard marathon (42.2km) at the Paris Olympics, her 2025 Two Oceans win was a reminder of how much better she is over the longer distances. She ran the third fastest time ever by a woman in the race, 3:29:11, after running the second fastest time in 2023 (3:29:06) and the fastest time of 3:26:54 in 2024. That level of dominance is almost unheard of, in whatever sport. She’s the only woman to run the Two Oceans in under three and a half hours, and she’s done it four times. To put that in context, the first female entrant, who participated in 1974 Two Oceans marathon, Theresa Stadler, completed the race in 07:33:00. The next year, Ulla Paul was the first woman to run within the six-hour limit (5:24:51). It would take another four years for the five-hour barrier to be broken by Janet Bailey (4:34:28), before Beverly Malan opened the gates of the four-hour barrier when she finished in 3:59:08 in 1985. Beverly would go on to become the first woman to win the race three times, the same year that Siphiwe Gqele, a miner, became the first man to achieve the incredible feat. Gerda has gone on to eclipse them all, including four-time winner Monica Drögemöller, and Angelina Sephooa who won the race three times in three attempts. The 2024 season, the main focus of her documentary, was a year many would dream of. Besides the Two Oceans and Comrades record-breaking efforts, and her second appearance at the Olympics, she also set the course records at the Om Die Dam marathon in Hartebeesport and at the Vaal Marathon, where organisers and fellow runners treated her to a birthday celebration. She enjoys the social connection. She’s made the friends she was looking for eleven years ago – many of them – and become a popular icon in the South African running community, which values camaraderie and the social side of sport as much as the competitive element of racing. “I think what makes Gerda so special is the way she connects with people,” says road running journalist Mosibodi Whitehead in the hour and a half-long documentary. She’s an elite runner, but she’s also the people’s runner. Like all the great South African athletes she carries with her collectivist values and a sense of responsibility, a representative of her country. “I enjoy that people find that they can relate to me. That is something that is special to me. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” says Gerda, flashing the smile that running fans all over the country have become accustomed to. The greatest? The documentary producers posed the question to the interviewees and they all seemed to agree on one thing: If she’s not already a legend, the greatest Comrades and Two Oceans runner South Africa has seen, then she’s on the way. Despite the late start, the 35-year-old queen of the road seems to be treating her career like she treats her race strategy: A slow, steady start that builds into a searing pace. “No-one can touch her.” After she crossed the line at this year’s Two Oceans, it took eight minutes and forty seconds for the next woman to finish. Not a bad lead for someone who just wanted to make friends. Source: Supersport | Daily Maverick | EWN | Cape Talk | INEOS | Two Oceans Marathon | Comrades |