It may well have cost substantially more to buy a big-ticket property in one of Cape Town’s posh suburbs than the equivalent in one of Johannesburg’s swanky neighbourhoods a few years ago, but that’s no longer the case.
In fact, Johannesburg now boasts the most expensive suburb in South Africa. The Sandton enclave of Chislehurston just off Rivonia Road, adjacent to the mink and manure belt of Inanda, has recently overtaken Clifton as South Africa’s priciest suburb.
Latest data from property research group Lightstone places the current median value of full-title residential property in Chislehurston at a hefty R15 197 500. Clifton on the Atlantic Seaboard comes in at a close second with stand-alone homes valued at a median R15 060 114.
Johannesburg’s Sandhurst, Pezula Golf Estate in Knysna in the Western Cape and Llandudno on the Atlantic Seaboard complete Lightstone’s top five national suburb ranking, with mean prices ranging between R14m and R10,8m.
Interestingly, buyers will nowadays also have to fork out more for an abode in Johannesburg’s old-money residential haven of Westcliff than in Cape Town’s snooty Constantia and Bishopscourt. Mean valuations in these three suburbs range between R8m and R8,4m, according to Lightstone.
When it comes to prices of sectional title properties, Cape Town still dominates South Africa’s suburb ranking. Lightstone data shows that Clifton (R7,83m), the V&A Waterfront (R7,82m) and Constantia (R7,57m) are the three most expensive suburbs in which to buy an apartment or townhouse today.
The only Johannesburg suburb that made it into the top 10 ranking in terms of sectional title prices is Melrose Arch, the trendy mixed-use precinct off the N1 highway where apartments currently have a mean valuation of R3,52m.
Historic data from the Knowledge Factory’s SAPTG shows that in 2008 Cape Town still dominated the full-title suburb ranking with Camps Bay, Constantia and Clifton rated as South Africa’s three most expensive areas in which to buy a house.
Two years ago, the average house in Camps Bay cost R7m. At the same time, properties in Johannesburg’s exclusive Hyde Park (Gauteng’s most expensive suburb at the time) changed hands at an average R4,78m. - Joan Muller
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