Cape Town CBD Living an Attractive Option

Living near your place of work is a growing trend around the world, but anyone looking to buy a residential property in Cape Town knows that there are too many buyers and too few properties available. “People are increasingly struggling to find affordable property around the CBD and so we’ve been seeing a lot of movement in areas further afield like Milnerton”, explains Bruce Swain, MD of Leapfrog Property Group, “of course the ongoing renovation of the CBD could certainly draw residential property buyers back to town”.

Thankfully it would seem that the Mother City is in fact headed for a property boom as Rob Kane of the CCID (Central City Improvement District) recently announced that city centre investments of around R2 billion have been confirmed over the past three months. 

According to Kane these planned investments include:

• The re-development of the old Triangle House in Riebeek Street with a R1bn residential development by Signatura and the Radisson.
• The construction of two hotels on the old Tulip Hotel site to the value of R680m by Tsogo Sun and
• The Sentinel, a new R200m residential development on the corner of Loop and Leeuwen streets.

The CCID's communications manager, Carola Koblitz has revealed that the growing demand for inner city living is on par with international trends as people opt to live closer to work.

A recent State of Cape Town Central City Report indicates that the recent revitalisation of the ‘downtown’ precinct has been very successful with 89 percent of respondents calling it the best CBD in South Africa. Richard Thomas, Nedbank Property Finance's regional executive for the Cape indicates that the number of people living in town has also grown significantly from around 750 ten years ago to almost 6,000 in 2015.

 “Based on the progress the city has made, the desire for more residential living spaces in town and the investment we’re already seeing being made there is every reason to believe that inner city living will soon be a very attractive draw card to buyers, especially with first time buyers looking to enter the property market”, believes Swain.