Record harvests and their positive effect on local businesses have led to an influx of house hunters into the Breede River Valley.
The best crop harvests in six years in 2016 – and the tremendous boost this has given the area’s agricultural businesses – has prompted young people to stream into the Valley in search of both employment and homes.
“In fact,” says Charles de Kock, owner of the Chas Everitt International franchises in Swellendam and Worcester, “they are currently snapping up just about every available piece of property along Route 62 from Tulbagh to Swellendam. Of the properties we’ve sold in the last year, two-thirds have been to young families permanently relocating to the area for work purposes.”
And the arrival of a slew of new residents has also caused property values to climb steadily, he says. “For example, in Swellendam and Barrydale, where a 100m² three-bedroom home now costs around R1,4m, house prices have seen a healthy 10% increase since last year.
“There has also been an enormous interest in commercial farms and the price of land has more than doubled in the past two years, from around R30 000/ha to an average of R70 000/ha.”
De Kock says Worcester, the biggest town in the Breede River Valley, currently presents potentially lucrative – and still largely untapped – property investment prospects.
Meanwhile Robertson, located in the heart of an officially recognised Wine of Origin region (and the Cape’s largest irrigated wine-producing region), has seen house price growth of nearly 7% this year, according to resident real estate agent Mardi Botha.
“We’re selling an average of six houses a month to both young professionals who are starting local businesses and older people from Cape Town and Johannesburg wanting a taste of country life. Small ‘lifestyle’ farms are very popular as either weekend retreats or to set up as guesthouses and they sell for between R3 and R5 million.”
About 20km to the south, in the foothills of the Riviersonderend Mountains, McGregor is attracting equal attention. “When I arrived here seven years ago a small two-bedroom cottage would have sold for around R700 000. Today, these properties are going for R1,3m to R1,4m,” says Shaun King, estate agent in the village.
There has also been a distinct change in buyer profile, he notes. “Two years ago half our buyers were Capetonian retirees and the other half were foreigners. Now, they’re all South Africans and mostly professionals who live here permanently, and who either work remotely or own guesthouses where they get up to R1 500 per person for a night’s stay.”
According to King, a serious shortage of stock is pushing prices up even further. “The village is bordered by a nature reserve so cannot expand at all which, of course, escalates prices. Right now it’s definitely a seller’s market, and buyers are prepared to overpay. Anything under R2 million in a good part of town will sell within a week.”
Demand similarly exceeds supply in Montagu which, like McGregor, falls within the Langeberg Municipality. “Our stock has been significantly depleted in the last 24 months due to the town’s popularity. Property values have increased as much as 30%, with the average house now selling for R1,45 million,” says Nelda Wiese, an estate agent in Montagu.
“While we do have a small percentage of ‘swallows’, Montagu is increasingly attracting young families and our buyers include entrepreneurs and those in the hospitality industry who are taking advantage of the upsurge in tourism that the town has experienced in the past few years.” Wiese notes that this appeal will only intensify when the major improvements that are currently being made to the pass through Cogmanskloof – Montagu’s access road through the Langeberg – are completed.
At R950 000, the average house price is substantially lower in nearby Bonnievale, but that is destined to change, Wiese predicts.
