Johannesburg - Prices of South Africa’s super-luxurious
penthouses have risen astronomically over the past couple of years.
In Cape Town, which boasts the country’s most expensive
property, double-digit annual growth in the penthouse market has been achieved
in recent years.
Since 2008 the Mother City has also held the record for the
highest price yet achieved for a penthouse in the country.
This was for a super-luxurious penthouse in the One &
Only Hotel, which was sold for more than R115m to a South African buyer by
Seeff Properties.
Ian Slot, managing director for the Atlantic Coast region at
Seeff, said the remaining two penthouses at the One & Only Hotel are also
on Seeff's books at R105m for 1 440m², and R95m for 798m², amounting to R72
917/m² and R118 048/m² respectively.
He ascribed the sought-after nature of Cape penthouses to
their location and the fact that they offer views of two of the world’s
heritage sites, Table Mountain and Robben Island.
In the Front Yacht Basin of the V&A Waterfront in Cape
Town, penthouses worth more than R315m have been sold over the past 10 years
and the average annual growth since 2005 has been 21%, said Emelia van der
Linde, Seeff’s sales consultant for the Waterfront.
She is currently marketing an 833m² penthouse in the Pinmore
Building in the area for R65m.
In recent years investments in the market have achieved
astronomical growth.
A 417m² penthouse in the Marina Basin in the V&A, which
was bought for R18.25m in 2007, was sold two years later for R40m - showing growth of 49% a year.
In the City Bowl, Mandela Rhodes Place is in demand and a
penthouse was sold for R5.5m in 2007, entailing a 32% profit in only seven
months.
Joburg too has its highs
In Johannesburg the luxurious penthouses in the Melrose Arch
development to the north of the city need in no way take a back seat to their
Cape counterparts.
The third phase of this mixed-use development’s residential
component will be announced in two weeks' time, and two of the five penthouses
have already been snapped up by South African buyers at R25.5m each.
This is a new high for a penthouse, and the previous record
price in Melrose Arch was R7.5m in 2008, said Peet Strauss, manager of Pam
Golding Properties (PGP) at Melrose Arch.
The new phase involves a R400m development with 59 luxury
dwelling units, with five penthouses each more than 800m², including roof
gardens and swimming pools. He said the cheapest penthouse costs R14m and the
prices of the units start at R3.5m.
Strauss said properties in Melrose Arch do not readily
change ownership and most of the units in the development are occupied by their
owners.
The penthouse in the Pinmore Building at the V&A
Waterfront in Cape Town is being marketed by Seeff Properties for an
astronomical R65m.