Suburban Living - Good or Bad?

The "S"-word!?

Ever heard of the term "suburban-phobia"? It speaks to popular culture depictions that accentuate the image of the suburban environment as being stagnant or even boring. However, with the ever-growing urban footprint and millennials looking for high quality homes and a secure lifestyle not necessarily found within the city-bowl, is the "S" word really that bad?

Financial Mail reports that the luxury market (above R6mil) in areas such as Camps Bay and Fresnaye, show a decline in price growth throughout the past year.  

Nonetheless, it seems that Durbanville has trumped its competitors in the Cape Town's top suburb list with Clara Anna Fontein landing a top place in the high-end market (R3mil - R6mil), with a % price growth of 20,99% over a 3 year period up to June 2019. 

...So what makes a property development in the Northern Suburbs so attractive to overcome this "suburban-phobia" and pull in more urban investors? 

Francois Louw, Managing Director of Louw & Coetzee Properties with 25 years' property experience, says the best advice for any prospective home buyer or investor, is to buy into the best security they can afford (and stats prove that the suburbs will bring the best value for your buck).

Within your budget, look at the following: 

1. Stand alone homes with boundary walls/fencing, beams, alarms and armed response; 
2. Gated access control complexes; 
3. Developments / complexes with 24-hour manned security;
4. Large residential estates with top-end security and a lifestyle component. 

The "suburban-phobia" might be real, but one thing is for sure, the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town offers an extensive array of secure properties ticking many or even all of the security boxes...and might I add, slowly but surely creating the new "urban" in "suburban". 

Article credit: FinancialMail.co.za
Article by: Alet van Zyl / Associate Director & Head of Marketing 

THE LOWDOWN | ISSUE 1 2020