SA’s luxury property market weathered the recession storm to a far greater extent than the other segments.

Certain luxury developments and areas with houses over R3m boasted price growth in the high double figures on a year-on-year (y/y) basis, data from Lightstone showed.

Andrew Watt, business development manager at Lightstone, says it has to be kept in mind that some of the transactions, which are based on Deeds Office data, may include unidentified land transactions that could impact on the change in values.

Woodhill in Pretoria was the top performer in 2009 with growth of 25% y/y, which pushed up the median house price from R3,05m in 2008 to R3,7m.

“It was due to land transactions earlier in the year and developed houses during the next year,” he said. Nevertheless, it is still remarkable growth when compared with the rest of the market.

At Thesen Island in Knysna growth of 25% was achieved, which increased the median house price from R3,8m to R4,675m in 2009.

A winning suburb was Hyde Park in Johannesburg with growth of 18% in 2009. This pushed up the median house price in the area to R8,85m from R6,65m in 2008.

Fresnaye on the Atlantic Seaboard achieved growth of 15% y/y. There were 32 transactions in the area which pushed up the price to R7m from R5,775m.

Dainfern in Johannesburg grew by 11% in 2009, allowing the median price to rise to R4,1m. There were 43 transactions in this development in last year.

Absa’s latest report on the residential sector supports the view that the luxury market fared well. Nominal house price growth in the bracket between R3,1m to R11,5m achieved average growth of 0,9% in 2009.

It was significantly lower than the growth of 8,8% in 2008, a sign that the segment hasn’t been entirely unaffected by the downturn, but not to the same extent as the other house market segments.

Jacques du Toit, senior property analyst at Absa’s home loans division, says the group with larger incomes isn’t as vulnerable as middle and lower income groups.

Dr Andrew Golding, CE of Pam Golding Properties (PGP), says the luxury market has by and large weathered the storm due to a high amount of cash buyers in this segment.

He says the segment that has exceeded all expectations is the super luxurious market with properties of more than R20m. “Buyers in this segment were willing to pay record prices right through the recession.”

He says various houses on the Atlantic Seaboard, Cape Town’s southern suburbs and Johannesburg’s northern suburbs have sold for more than R45m over the last year. – Elma Kloppers, Sake24