The last 150 plots are currently being sold at Shelley Point. Once these are sold no further land will be available for single residential homes in the entire 160ha precinct.

The plots currently being released are on average 500m2 in size and the majority of those for sale front onto the recently upgraded nine-hole golf course. This, said developer Gert Joubert, is an immense advantage because it gives them a spacious open-air feeling in which their privacy is not impinged on by neighbours.

Prices of the plots are pitched from R449,000 to R790,000.

"Throughout the course of this development," said Joubert, "we have stressed that the time will come when we run out of land but we have not reached that point on single residential plots."

Shelley Point fronts onto the ocean with two beaches, one of which, measuring some 1 900 metres faces onto St Helena Bay. This is one of the calmest boating waters on the South African coastline and it is particularly well known for its dolphin and, over the summer season, for its whales.

Some 1,5km of fencing protects the inland boundary of the estate and there only two entrances, both imposing structures and both manned round-the-clock 365 days of the year.

The latest project to be completed at Shelley is a R35 million country club clubhouse and Wellness Centre. Due for opening at Easter, this is now all but complete. It is sited on the eastern side of the nine-hole golf course. Membership of this facility, along with some 95 new apartments, will be launched in February and together they will, said Joubert, further raise the value of all homes at Shelley Point.

Some idea of just how fast the sales pace has been in recent years at Shelley Point can be gained from the fact that West Coast Properties have in the last two years sold just on 500 plots. Construction activity on these has picked up to the point where some seven houses are now being completed each month.

Looking back on the ten years since he launched this development (which has absorbed almost R1 billion in infrastructural and building costs), Joubert said that its plots had appreciated in value faster than those of any other resort in South Africa. The appreciation rate, he said, has on average been very close to 100% per annum.

"When we first began marketing here," said Joubert, "we were selling sea-fronting plots for as little as R100,000. Today those same plots are seldom available at under R2 million. Plots further back from the seafront that originally sold at R35,000 can now seldom be had for under R600,000.

"Similarly the first homes built here had average values of about R300,000. Today their average value is around R2 million."

The good news for investors, said Joubert, is that prices are still rising fast, and as the supply begins to dwindle, he predicts that the price rises will be even faster.

Joubert said that the success of the project stems from three main factors: the beauty of the five kilometres of totally unspoilt coastline that forms two-thirds of Shelley Point's boundary; the conformity of home design; and the very considerable sums invested in landscaping the golf course, the paved road boulevards and other features. To date over 500 palms have been planted, all maintained by automatic irrigation.

Further ambitious projects include a small boat harbour, 1000 apartments and some island homes.

For more information contact 083 454 5641.

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