Europeans, armed with a good exchange rate, are helping the Atlantic Seaboard property market make a comeback as a favoured destination for investors.
And proving that people are willing to pay what it takes for the lifestyle offered by this area, Obsidian, a completely off-the-grid home in Clifton, has just been sold.
It was designed by leading South African architecture firm, SAOTA as a granite and glass-designed masterpiece and was on the market for R160 million.
Karryn Cartoulis of Re/Max Living, who marketed the property on IOL Property portal, says the market is “so busy currently, over all sectors”.
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The house had been on the market over the hard lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, and its sale now - by the family who almost immediately fell in love with it and put in an offer - is a “clear indication that the world and the market is opening up”.
Cartoulis says the quality of life plus the exchange rate is what is drawing her foreign clients.
“Added to that many of my foreign clients purchase the high-end villas as they are astounded by the short-term rental yields which are achieved from December to May. Most of these high-end villas are holiday homes,” she says.
Cartoulis, who also is marketing another SAOTA-inspired R230m home in the area, says the R160m house was sold to a family from Europe.
They loved the five-levelled, luxury villa, set high up in Clifton on the slopes of Lion’s Head, which was designed to blend in with the mountain and maximise the magnificent views of the 12 Apostles mountain range, Lion’s Head and the Atlantic Ocean.
With all this natural beauty on one’s doorstep it is easy to see why certain parts of Cape Town are expected to show the highest growth in property prices against the other provinces.
Cartoulis says many of her foreign purchasers were young entrepreneurs from Europe “who love chasing the sun. They stay for at least three months at their villas and invite many of their friends to join them”.
“With the easy time zone, they can all work remotely and enjoy an incredible quality of life with our world-class beaches, mountain ranges, incredible restaurants, shops, friendly and hospitable South Africans with the most fantastic culture that we have to offer them!”
That the properties are off-the-grid also helps when it comes to issues such as load shedding.
The interior of Obsidian generates a sense of serenity from the moment you walk through the front door, says Cartoulis.
The lower part of the building, an independent apartment, is expressed as “a heavy stone plinth, its gabion-walled exterior and cocooning interior of dark-stained oak and off shutter concrete reflecting the strata of the mountainside out of which they emerge”.
On top of this is a transitional space with a green terrace and braai area.
All levels of the house are connected via a sculptural timber staircase, “like a folded ribbon that, appropriate to the home’s design narrative, gradually lightens in tone as it rises”.
A vertically slatted box “hovers over the terrace, with screens that can be opened or closed to adjust the amount of natural light filtering into the interior, as if you were sitting in the shade of a large tree”.
The uppermost level, the master bedroom, sits above the tree-tops and as such the materials – white marble, pale timber – and use of skylights “express a feeling of air and openness while fold-away glass walls welcome in the full expanse of the view”.
Furnished and designed by a renowned interior decorator, Cécile and Boyd, the property is immaculate in style and design, offering all the modern requirements with luxury throughout, says Cartoulis.
She added that some of the art, furniture and sculptures were included in the purchase.
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