South African property buyers are reportedly thinking more about what their children need and want the home they buy to accommodate those needs.
Everitt says parents are increasingly looking for homes that are not only close to good schools but will also accommodate the need for their children to spend more of their leisure or play time at home.
When buying new homes adults aren’t the only ones whose lifestyles have changed in the past 10 to 20 years – children also live very differently now and their changing needs can have a big influence on home purchasing decisions and trends.
According to Berry Everitt, managing director of the Chas Everitt International property group, there is a growing preference among buyers who can afford homes in gated estates where children can safely play outdoors.
There is also a rising demand for apartments and townhouses in complexes that have their own playgrounds, pools and perhaps even a crèche, he says.
Everitt says parents are increasingly looking for homes that are not only close to good schools but will also accommodate the need for their children to spend more of their leisure or play time at home.
Features that are likely to appeal to family homebuyers include a safe back garden, spacious, sunny bedrooms and an extra play space or media room where children can have their computers and play their own music without disturbing the rest of the household.
He says many families have to deal with the fact that grown children now tend to stay at home longer than before.
“It is often simply unaffordable for them to live elsewhere while they study or in rental accommodation while they save up for homes of their own.”
He says homebuyers with teenagers choose homes with an eye to accommodating these young people at a later stage in a self-contained suite or garden cottage.
Family homebuyers looking for an ideal home in Gauteng can look no further than a modern four bedroom home in Meyersdal in the south of Johannesburg.
Seeff Properties describe the property as a perfect family home with all the ideal elements for successful entertaining.
It is selling for R2 950 000 a double storey house with a full flatlet/office complete with kitchenette and bathroom.
The family home is located 10 minutes from the Johannesburg CBD as Meyersdal is on the border between Alberton and Johannesburg’s Southern Suburbs.
Meyersdal has long been considered an elite suburb with exclusive homes for the upper end of the market.
This double storey Meyersdal family home is selling for R2 950 000.
Top of the range properties in the area are priced at close to R60 million in the nearby Meyersdal Eco Estate.
Meyersdal property has shown excellent appreciation even in the current challenging economy and is therefore a superb investment for the discerning homeowner or property investor, according to Seeff Properties.
Rawson Properties says Paarl in the Western Cape is a good buy location for serious homebuyers and investors.
Rawson Properties Paarl franchisee, Lizette Joubert says Paarl has held onto its property values in the recent difficult times.
Joubert says Paarl has traditionally been home to old Cape families as well as some enterprising younger generation entrepreneurs who now have substantial assets.
“Some of these cash-rich investors have abandoned the stock exchange and the money markets and are coming back into the Paarl property market.”
These buyers, says Joubert have been buying two or more homes a month and paying cash for them.
In Paarl, one can buy an apartment for R420 000 to R850 000 while houses are priced from R795 000 to R7.5 million.
A classic Victorian house in central Paarl is selling for R3.8 million. It has been rezoned for business/medical purposes.
Joubert says it is difficult to make a bad buy in Paarl at today’s prices – which is why so many investors are returning to Boland property.
She adds that these old houses now zoned for commercial use are some of the best offerings in a market.
Although likely to take two or three years to flower again, the market has now stabilised and has always been subject to less fluctuations than property in other more volatile, less settled precincts. – Denise Mhlanga
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