[imagesource: Paulo Pousinho / Tripadvisor]

As you may recall, that pesky pandemic has had a massive impact on the South African property market over the past 30 or so months.

Foreigners who would usually swoop in to avoid their winters and drive up rental prices were in short supply as our borders shut and the world panicked about that ‘South African variant’ that was really just identified here first.

Anyway, there’s a slow and steady return to ‘normal’ and it looks like this summer will be a cracker for South Africa’s luxury property sector.

TimesLIVE reports that there’s currently a high demand for ‘super luxury rentals’ in areas like the Atlantic Seaboard, Upper Constantia, Bishopscourt, Paarl, and Franschhoek.

Gauteng is also seeing a surge in demand in Sandton and Johannesburg North with “luxury estates again achieving monthly rentals of more than R100 000 per month”:

Samuel Seeff, chair of the Seeff Property Group, says “significant rentals” have already been achieved within the last year.

“These include R130,000 per month in Constantia Upper on a three-year lease which was paid upfront by a tenant from Ireland and two high-value rentals in Camps Bay [below] of R100,000 and R95,000 per month, respectively.

Image: Supplied to TimesLIVE

“In Sandton/Johannesburg North, Seeff also secured a significant R92,700 per month for a penthouse in the Park Central development in Rosebank.”

Compared to last year, Seeff’s Jessica Marais says demand for luxury rentals has resulted in prices rising by as much as 15% to 20%.

Rentals of between R70 000 and R100 000 a month in Cape Town have been snapped up by a Swedish family, a Swiss family, and an American corporate tenant.

Constantia Upper and Bishopscourt are proving popular with Americans and Brits, according to property agent Jacqui Bush:

“They are looking for premier properties in Constantia Upper, often coming to SA for work or business, and demand high-quality rentals. While there is generally adequate stock at the high-end of the market, there is a shortage of mid-market stock in the R20,000 to R30,000 per month range on the back of high demand,” said Bush.

Pam Golding Properties reckons that once you look at rentals that exceed R80 000 a month, foreigners account for around 75% of tenants.

What South African is renting a property for that amount of money? Madness.

Let’s not forget that some properties go for as much as R180 000 per day (yes, per day). I also found a 10-bedroom in Constantia listed for R350 000 a month, and another for R545 000 a month in Camps Bay.

Silly season is coming.

[source:timeslive]