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Garden Route remains in high demand, despite overall market slowdown
SEDGEFIED (August 26) - Sedgefield, snuggled midway between Knysna and George and blessed with a Mediterranean climate, has recorded a 29,76 percent year on year growth in registered sales ending June 30, according to Garth Wearing, local owner broker of RE/MAX Coastal. Residential prices have slumped by approximately 10 percent during the same period but the negatives that have perniciously blighted market interest round the rest of the country have yet to stamp any dejection on a market which is being pumped along with cash accounting for about 70 percent of all sales. Main draw card of the town remains unquestionably its quality of lifestyle, this especially in its appeal to upcountry retirees, but further factors gilding its more recent pull is the relatively low cost of entry market homes and every South Africa's chart topping wish - that of a low crime rate. Sedgefield's doggedness in bucking the national trend with its increase in residential sales, according to Wearing, has also been encouraged by local sellers adapting quicker to the slowdown in property price growth. "There was some over the top of the pricing, but the relatively small size of the town and the integrity of local agents helped quickly smooth early resistance." Sedgefield's current market entry starts at just over R700 000 for a three-bed single dwelling with garage and good choices prevailing up to R900 000. One of RE/MAX Coastal's more recent higher prices sales of R1,75m was made to a Gauteng buyer. Meanwhile, Wearing reports prices still "moving sideways" in Knysna. Some realism in sellers expectations has steadied the decline in sales volumes to about 10 percent than they were a year ago, but movement, underpinned by seasonal inactivity, remains generally muted with hopes of improvement largely dependent on traditionally outright cash purchases of holiday homes towards the end of the year. |