Bryanston clusters seeing high demand

Cluster homes are finding good favour among buyers in the northern Johannesburg suburb of Bryanston as security requirements become increasingly important.

Seeff Sandton agent Diana Burnett, who specialises in selling cluster homes in Bryanston, reports a 50% increase in her sales this year. “The prices are still sitting where they should be, but there is more activity and more buyers.”

She says people buying into clusters are buying a lifestyle. “If you look at the difference in price between normal residential homes and a cluster home, there is probably much better value in the stand-alone home. However, these homes tend to be older and on large grounds.

“Nowadays, many people just do not want to deal with the maintenance, security issues, and hefty rates and taxes. They also like the newness and out-of-the-box appeal of clusters.”

Burnett says the cluster homes in Bryanston range in price from R2m at the lower end up to R16m. “The top end is still taking a long time to move since there is a limited market at that level. Most of the buyers – who have pushed up my sales this year – are people who want to get into Bryanston at entry level, so anything priced at around R2m moves quickly, and up until R5m.”

Luciana Struthers, area specialist for Chas Everitt International, says Bryanston still boasts many generously proportioned homes set in rolling grounds. “But over the past few years, many have also been demolished to make way for smaller, more modern homes in upmarket complexes or cluster villages in the wake of extensive commercial development in the area.

"These builds brought in a whole new generation of buyers who appreciate the enhanced safety of gated developments, easy access to places of work and convenience as well as the cachet of a Bryanston address – and whose homes are retaining their value even now."

Jonathan Davies, branch manager for Pam Golding Properties (PGP) in Hyde Park, says cluster homes continue to sell because they offer space coupled with security.

“However, not all price ranges are doing well. The lower price ranges are still active and are recovering well as interest rates move down. The expensive cluster homes take longer to sell, because the top end markets have not shown much movement.

“The cluster homes, although attractive in some cases to investors, are predominantly purchased by young families who require some degree of space and security.

Burnett says Bryanston is a popular family area because of the good private schools, as well as with younger professional couples who want to move in and start a family.

Davies says free-standing homes are always popular and sell to two main types of buyer. “Developers who still like to purchase the old Bryanston acres for subdivision, and people who buy old homes to renovate and either sell again or live in. There seems to be a move back towards larger gardens.”

He says sectional title schemes are usually in demand among the investor buyer, or the first-time home buyer. “They are relatively affordable and allow investors to buy into a good suburb at a reasonable price. As the average pricing of sectional title units is in the early millions, it is attractive to this type of buyer. The market has remained busy and, even through the downturn, we have seen reasonable movement due the suburb’s popularity.”

“Market activity can be split predominantly between two distinct groups of sellers. Those who are affected by the recession and those who are more resilient.

“The lower to middle end markets respond quickly to interest rate hikes, with sellers changing their prices rapidly to keep in line with the market and achieve a sale. Many of these sellers were forced to reduce prices and, in turn, the average in these markets dropped. These markets were, to a large extent, the middle to lower income groups and lower to middle priced properties. They are properties that are the first to react to the market when interest rates increase, but they are equally fast to react when interest rates are reduced.”

He says the top end (affluent) markets are more resilient to recession and high interest rates and many sellers could afford to simply stay put or wait the market out. “This caused this upper end to remain fast from a pricing perspective. The market fell down around these upper end homes. What will need to happen over the next few months is the market will have to rise again to meet this upper end. Only the serious sellers had to drop their prices, but most in this market will wait until values return and the market begins to move again.” – Eugene Brink

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