CONSTANTIA RETAINS ITS APPEAL FOR PROPERTY BUYERS

No matter what happens in the Cape residential property market, one factor remains constant:  Constantia holds its pre-eminent place as the area to which most Capetonians would move if they won the lottery or received an unexpected legacy from a relation they did not know existed, says Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank.

 Steward said that although the area has witnessed much the same price falls as the rest of South Africa, these came off an exceptionally high level – and have not been disastrous, bearing in mind the price increases of the last five years.

 A case in point is one of the latest of APKF’s Constantia offerings, a large family home, some 30 years old, with a huge main bedroom cum dressing room, a guest suite with its own bathroom, two further bedrooms, a study, a fully equipped kitchen and a separate scullery and laundry.

 The home has a spacious formal living room with a fireplace and dining area, staff accommodation, a double garage, an outdoor entertainment terrace, a rim-flow pool and a Jacuzzi. 

 The vertical sliding sash windows have the popular small pane configuration.  Natural stone is used to edge the chimney and other features in an attractive way.  Views from the well established garden take in the Back Table spine.

 The asking price is R8,5 million. 

 Also on offer from APKF in Constantia is a more modern, almost minimalist home which relies on its façade shapes and elegant brickwork verandah and patio for its impact.  It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, a large open plan lounge and dining area cum TV room (with a gas fireplace) and a separate one bedroom flat.  Again, the mountain views are beautiful.

 The price of this home is R5,4 million, which APKF agent, Marianne Price, has described as “genuinely market related in the current difficult conditions”.

 Steward said that if one accepts, as she does, that the global economy will be on a recovery path from late 2009 onwards – and that South Africa, although not as seriously hit by the downswing as the debt-encumbered First World countries, will follow suit, property offers such as those mentioned above are now a very sound investment. 

 “I am,” she said, “prepared to predict that by 2012 any well-designed Constantia house will have gained 50% in value.  The area has always been the jewel in the Cape Peninsula property crown and I cannot see that changing.  Now would, therefore, be a good time to show confidence in the future of SA and the Cape property market by buying in this area where the dire shortage of land will see the price of existing properties rise exponentially in the long term.”