When you talk about Johannesburg, Bordeaux is not a wine, or even a region in France, but rather a suburb stretching from the Randburg CBD to Hurlingham and Craighall.
Looking for property in Bordeaux there is one vital question that you always have to ask: “northern or southern Bordeaux?”. The question refers to whether the property in question is north or Republic Road, and therefore closer to the Randburg CDB and the large taxi rank there, or south of Republic and closer to Craighall and the Old Parktonians Sports Club. The other issue that potential buyers need to bare in mind is the location of a prospective property in relation to Jan Smuts Ave. Irrespective of whether or not a property is north or south of Republic the further from Jan Smuts you are the better the location.
Properties in the suburb tend to be of the 3 beds, 2 baths variety with a reasonable amount of garden space for pets, kids and other animals. Despite some of the properties losing value as a result of their proximity to the Randburg taxi rank the average price of a house in the suburb is just over R1.2-million, a price point that has been maintained for the last three years.
In the last 12 months there have been three freehold sales of between R400 000 and R800 00, 33 between R800 000 and R1.5-million and six between R1.5-million and R3-million. There is a small sectional title market but this only makes up 13% of the total stock and in 2011 so far there have been no sales in this part of the market. The suburb is seeing somewhat of an exodus of longer-term residents, with 46% of recent sellers having owned their properties for 11 years or more. It is also seeing an influx of younger buyers with 30% of recent buyers coming from the 18-35 year-old category. There is still a strong older population with 20% of stable owners in the 65+ category.
The one thing that Bordeaux has going for it, apart from nice houses and leafy streets, is location. The suburb sits at the crossroads of Republic Road, Jan Smuts and Main Road. This makes accessing Sandton, Bryanston and Rosebank pretty simple. There are nice backroads for dodging traffic and while the highway is not exactly close it is easy enough to get to.
Education-wise there is Bordeaux Primary in the suburb (the northern part) and IR Griffiths and Blairgowrie Primary are just across the road. The suburb is also close St Stithians and Bryanston High School for high school education. If the world of marketing and advertising is your kettle of fish then the Vega School is in Bordeaux so you could walk there from home.
