I’m sure there was a time, before recently matriculated students flocked to the beaches and bars and it became so popular with the Jozi folk, when Plett was a quiet seaside town.

That time has long since come and gone, but if you did manage to scoop up property before the boom, you’re probably sitting pretty right about now.

According to the SA Wealth Report 2019, Plett is now the “premier coastal residential belt outside of the Atlantic Seaboard for upper-end and investment buyers”, and outside of Cape Town and Jozi, it’s the top location for R20 million homes.

TimesLIVE reports

“Notably, Beachyhead Drive in Plett is considered to be the most expensive road in SA for residential property (outside of Cape Town),” the report stated.

Kevin Engelsman, of Seeff Plettenberg Bay, found the Garden Route town “has seen a fair amount of influx over the last few years as semigrating families looked to settle in a more wholesome environment”.

Semigration is the act of moving within the country by those who seek a better quality of life.

Semigration – when you’re not really excited about emigrating, I guess.

The most active price range at present is around the R3 million mark, says Sue Murray, a Pam Golding Properties agent in the area, adding that there has been an upsurge in the 40-60 age bracket amongst buyers.

Lightstone data shows that the total transactions for Plettenberg Bay escalated from 383 in 2013 by about 40% annually to around 748 in 2017.

The 2016-17 years were characterised by high volumes, in part due to new developments.

The market decline set in from late 2017 and by 2018 the market had settled back to 494 transactions.

For the current year 290 transactions were recorded from January to August.

Taken over the past 12 months, the average sales price is just shy of R2 million.

If we snoop around the Pam Golding listings, you can see a two-bedroom apartment in the always popular River Club for R1,9 million, a three-bedroom apartment for R1,75 million, and even a three-bedroom house for R1,65 million.

I know it’s a terrible idea to compare property prices to those you find in the Cape Town CBD, but by that metric you’re still getting decent value for money.

Factor in that you can rent it out in December when you head somewhere quieter and you’re in business.

[source:timeslive]