Dolphin Coasts Top traded Estates (The Bugle)

The relative size of the residential property markets between the leading estates along the Dolphin Coast is an interesting aspect and provides insight into where most of the trade is happening. For Estate Agents trade in properties is everything. A property market characterized by limited trade will attract little interest from estate agents and typically be under represented while a market that has brisk trade will be fully represented by many service providers. 

The two engines for growth for our market have been Zimbali Coastal Resort and Simbithi Eco-Estate. It is instructive to note that very similar Rand value transaction volumes are done annually across these two hotspots. The deeds office data currently indicates that for the 2013 year, 102 transactions were registered in Zimbali at a total gross value of R346,2m. In Simbithi a total of 191 transactions were registered at a total gross value of R363,8m. Simbithi is therefore the number one traded estate by a narrow margin. As the data service providers typically experience some time delay between the date of registration of a property and when the deeds office releases the data, the information is updated over time and the final figures only become available a few months after the end of any given period. The two largest estates along the Dolphin Coast account for R710m in trade, which would represent almost half of all transactions within the greater Ballito area. 

Considering fourteen of the most actively traded estates, the third position is taken by Seaward Estates with 62 transactions and a gross value of R101m. Palm Lakes Estate has shot up the rankings to claim fourth position with a brisk 92 transactions and gross value of R66,4m. If you are not yet aware that Palm Lakes dominates the market at the R2,5m level along the Dolphin Coast a visit to the estate will provide insight into why this is such a hot spot for development at the moment. Brettenwood Coastal Estate and Dunkirk occupy position 5 and 6 respectively with very similar volumes. Brettenwood had 54 transactions at R61,4m and Dunkirk had 52 transactions at R55,5m. Princes Grant, as a large established estate surprisingly only occupies position 7 with 15 registered transactions at a value of R27,6m. This is very low given the extent of the property. One explanation is the dominant holiday market of second homes that characterizes Princes Grant – a market segment that has been slower to recover in comparison to the primary home markets. Umhlali Golf Estate takes position 8 with 10 transactions at a value of R22,4m. The remaining six estates within our sample group all did less than R20m in trade for the year, together producing 72 sales with a gross value of R89,1m. This represents less than 8% of the total trade across the fourteen estates. The six top trading estates account for 88% of the gross turnover within the sample group indicating how the market is dominated by the few larger gated communities.

(Author: Andreas Wassenaar, published in The Bugle, 15 Jan 2014)