GOLF PROPERTY GLUT ON THE WESTERN CAPE

Investors in Western Cape of South Africa golf estates may be disappointed with returns as more residential developments come onto the market.

That is according to Mike Flax, chief executive officer of Western Cape-based Spearhead Property Group – a listed property loan stock company, who said this week there could be “too much stock” in the form of golf estate houses coming on to the market.

A number of new golf course developments “still have to sell out existing stock”, while other developments are being planned, particularly near Hermanus.

A similar situation is developing on the Garden Route where people are buying golf course properties as holiday homes.

Golf course estates in suburban areas where owners are buying properties as their primary residences are likely to remain a good investment because these offer a secure lifestyle, but the proliferation of “resort” stock will put pressure on the market, Flax predicted.

Cape Town estate agent Lara Kaplan of Sotheby’s International Realty said there has been “huge interest from local and international buyers wanting to cash in on South Africa’s golfing boom”.

An estimated 170 000 golfing tourists visited the Western Cape in 2003, she said.

What is more, it is not just upmarket estates like Steenberg in Cape Town’s leafy southern suburbs that have attracted well-heeled buyers.