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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.
