Brettenwood Coastal Estate is booming. The 103 ha estate is
positioned along Dunkirk Estates northern boundary and lies just behind popular
suburbs Salt Rock and Sheffield Beach. The surge in vacant land sales within
Brettenwood over the past 18 months has been nothing short of astounding. The
developer’s vacant land availability list used to be four pages long. Today
there are only 7 sites available in phase 1 and 23 sites in phase 2. Rarely
have I seen a window of opportunity close so quickly. Scarcity is a seller’s
best friend. Current land pricing ranges from R1,050,000 for a 1,470 sqm bush
view site to R1,460,000 for a waterfront site measuring 1,291 sqm. It is less
about the site size and all about the position and outlook achievable. The
stock of available land is shrinking before our eyes and as estate agents this
means one thing – demand will drive pricing upwards, and quicker than you
think. For those who like the idea of buying a new freehold home but feel
overwhelmed by the prospect of having to go through the development process
themselves, the developer has provided development packages on certain selected
sites. These range from a 217 sqm build package at R2,075,000 to a 432 sqm
option at R4,257,605. If you are able to get a developer to provide you a build
package for less than R10,000/sqm you are doing very well. These build prices
cannot last with a depreciating Rand as the cost push inflation impact means
that almost every aspect of the building is affected in some way. Although our
petrol and diesel prices respond very quickly to movements in the value of the
Rand, other components sometimes have a lag affect of a few months as existing
inventory is sold but all new inputs have to be bought in at the escalate
prices.
The contemporary architecture and clean horizontal lines
inspired by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright are evident and something
investors and residents have responded to. The success in driving demand of the
new communal facilities at Brettenwood cannot be under estimated. The Woodland
Rest Clubhouse was opened in October last year and consists of a main clubhouse
with wrap around deck and catering facilities, 3 pools (a 25m lap pool, an aerobic/multi-function
pool and a kiddies pool), fully equipped gym with sauna and change rooms. The
entire facility was specifically designed to be wheel chair friendly. Below the
clubhouse is a Boma, which is a popular entertainment area with braaing
facilities and beautiful forest walks that can be accessed from it.
Brettenwood has learned from Dunkirk how important a beach
club facility is for residents living in an estate that does not have direct
beach access. To this end the developer has already purchased land on which the
Brettenwood beach clubhouse will be constructed and plans are being finalized.
A R35,000 beach clubhouse membership fee is applicable and payable by the
purchaser of every re-sale property. The pricing of the developer’s product
includes this fee, providing another incentive to purchase land while
available.
The age analysis of recent buyers (over the past
12 months) at Brettenwood indicates reasonably equal weighting across the age
groups. Current figures indicate that 16.33% are aged 18-35; 32.65% are aged
from 36-49; 32.65% are aged from 50-64 and 18.37% are aged 65 and older. The
impact of younger buyers acquiring vacant land to build their own homes and
older buyers acquiring retirement opportunities at Forest Village within
Brettenwood are evident. It is interesting to note that the average price
across all registered transactions over the past 12 months within Brettenwood
is R2,396,795. This compares favourably to the average of neighbouring estate
Dunkirk at R2,684,647.
Published in The Bugle, 5 Mar 2014, Author: Andreas Wassenaar
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