Residential property trends

With commercial property owners still taking strain thanks to life-changing work-life patterns established at the start of the pandemic, residential developments once again dominated the Central City property scene in 2021. The conversion of commercial office blocks into mixed-use developments to provide flexible living options as well as the optimising of co-working and co-living areas continued to be the stand-out development trends.

Several impressive residential or mixed-use developments (which have a commercial as well a residential offering) came on stream in 2021 in the Central City. Of the 13 developments that were completed overall (with a conservatively estimated value of R2.5 billion), three were residential developments, namely 16 on Bree (R860 million), Uxolo (R35 million) and HOMii Valencia (value to be confirmed), while three were mixed-use developments: Foreshore Place (R373 million), Neighbourgood East City (R80 million) and The Harri (R70 million).

Several residential or mixed-use developments were also under construction, including One Thibault (R500 million), The Rubik (R500 million), Neighbourgood Reserve (R75 million), and The Tokyo (R130 million).

INCLUSIVE LIVING & WORKING

Thoughtfully designed developments with all-inclusive living and working spaces were the order of the day in 2021, with an added emphasis on creating a sense of community.

Leading the way was innovative Neighbourgood, a neighbourhoodcentric property development company responsible for two Central The Rockefeller

Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence

City developments, namely the conversion of the old Townhouse Hotel into Neighbourgood East City (R80 million) – offering fully furnished units with flexible letting options, convenience and exceptional amenities – and Neighbourgood Reserve (formerly African Banking Corporation) (R75 million), which has studio units, office space and a conference venue.

Connected living – a trend which emerged in 2020 – was still the name of the game last year, with Neighbourgood setting the trend: all units are for rent only, with “members” able to access communal spaces, attend events and networking opportunities at other Neighbourgood properties in greater Cape Town.

DIGITAL NOMAD TREND

With the city placing 16th on a list of 71 countries identified by global housing rental platform Nestpick in 2021 as meccas for globe-trotting remote workers, Neighbourgood and other residential property developers in the Central City continued to cater for digital nomads as well as young urban professionals looking for an integrated inner-city space with flexible lease terms.

This trend is being maximised in the East City by The Harri (R70 million), a mixed-use development operating as an aparthotel successfully luring overseas young professionals.

MIXED-USE

Developers remained agile in their offerings in 2021. An excellent example is One Thibault (R500 million), the iconic former Standard Bank building on Thibault Square, which is being converted into a mixed-use development.

Together with Foreshore Place, a stone’s throw away, 28-floor One Thibault is cementing the Foreshore as a prominent downtown residential hub. It will be the tallest residential building in the city on completion.

The upper half of the building is being redeveloped into apartments which range in size from 19 m² to 60 m² and which can be bought fully furnished. Buying into the need for convenience and flexibility, other features of the development include co-working facilities and a restaurant.

APARTHOTELS

Adding an element of luxury and glamour to the 2021 residential offering in 2021 were aparthotels, namely The Rockefeller (R500 million) and BlackBrick Cape Town (R107 million) – both developed by Ryan Joffe Properties – and The Capital 15 on Orange (R20 million).

The developments all feature co-working spaces, with the added convenience of a fully fledged hotel offering at residents’ fingertips.