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Homes with some of the world’s finest vistas will always command top dollar. Those set in prime locations with luxury trappings and top amenities even more so.
Think the most expensive properties in South Africa and it’s the prestigious Clifton on the Western Cape’s Atlantic Seaboard that often comes to mind. Much of that price – aside from land scarcity – is grounded in the spectacular location and breathtaking ocean and mountain views.
Here the finest luxury apartments command up to R150000/sqm, almost three times the price paid for Johannesburg’s sumptuous apartments with spectacular sweeping city and Highveld views.
Take Houghton. The Jacaranda tree-lined suburb with its sprawling historical homes is blessed with some spectacular vistas. It has long been home to the uber-wealthy and the famous, the illustrious late former president Nelson Mandela the suburb’s most celebrated resident.
Aside from proximity to the main hubs of Johannesburg and Sandton, Houghton’s popularity revival has to do with the development of secure clusters and exclusive apartments offering premium lifestyles and premium views.
Enter ‘The Houghton’, the vision of property magnate the Irishman David Nagel. Today, the luxury 302-apartment and hotel development situated smack-bang on the 7th and 12th holes of the prestigious Houghton golf course is no longer just a vision, it’s a reality and already home to over 300 families.
Of the two residential developments, it is the exclusive north-facing ‘The Houghton on the 12th’ with sweeping city vistas added to golf course views that commands significantly higher prices.
At an average of around R35 000/sqm, that’s around R8.5m/R9m for the 12th’s cheapest unit, a three-bedroom 265sqm luxury apartment. Still, that doesn’t quite compete with the jaw-dropping R69m fetched for its most lavish 1 300sqm triple-storey penthouse that brags of magnificent golf course views and spectacular panoramas stretching across Johannesburg and Sandton to Pretoria. At a smidgen over R53 000/sqm, it’s a sticker price even eclipsing that of prestigious Melrose Arch’s R47 000/sqm luxury penthouses.
Aside from impressive views, access to a world-class international hotel and its amenities and 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, the luxuriously appointed apartments of The Houghton on the 12th offer private lift access into each apartment and top-notch security.
Multiple supercars housed in the garages speak volumes of the wealth concentrated here. Equally telling, the 12th is more than 80% sold, the buyers overwhelmingly local, Arnold Forman, CEO of the Lubner Group, owners of The Houghton, tells finweek.
Corporate uptake is also driving healthy rental prices − R65 000/month for a three-bed and the west-facing ‘The Houghton on the 7th’ fetching between R35 000 and R40 000.
All told, The Lubner Group and shareholders Ronnie Lubner and David Nagel will have realised R2.8bn worth of sales for the two residential developments when the final units of the 12th (to be completed by April 2017) have sold. Adding the sales of the hotel residential suites elevates that figure to R3.5bn.
