North Coast estate living overtakes freestanding properties

Since 1994 the number of estate houses on the North Coast has grown from a meager 219 to a whopping 6 897, and indicators show homeowners increasingly prefer the benefits of community living over large spacious homes with gardens.

Today, the number one choice of North Coast living sees homebuyers opting for sectional titles or estates, with a lower demand for freehold properties.

The North Coast residential market is broken down into 6 897 estate homes (an increase of 3 050% since 1994), 15 722 sectional titles and 5 814 freehold homes.

Sectional title units also showed a massive increase since 1994 – from 4 138 to 15 722 (280%).

But the growth of freehold properties has slowed, increasing from 3 576 to 5 814 during the same period (62%).

According to the AfriAsia Bank 2021 Wealth report, which charts property growth in the area from La Lucia to Sheffield since 1994, the scope of North Coast development becomes clear.

Locally, Zimbali has seen the highest number of new developments, with Seaward Estates, Compensation, Newsel Beach (Umdloti), the Sibaya Coastal Precinct and Willard Beach all featuring among the 12 suburbs with the highest growth.

In terms of property value, 43.5% of North Coast properties are worth more than R3-million, with a further 40.5% in the R1.5- to R3-million range.

These high costs mean the rate of first time buyers in the area is low, remaining steady at around 12% since 2015.

Similarly, by age, only 6% of properties are owned by people under 35, while 37% are owned by those aged 50 – 65.

Nevertheless, the property values represent a strong market on the North Coast and every year from 2015 to 2020, more than 2 500 properties changed hands.

This dropped slightly to 2 390 in Covid-19 affected 2021.

A host of amenities and sought after suburbs make it likely that the level of development is only going to continue to rise in the near future.

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