Whether your choice of holiday rental is a hotel room, a self catering guest house, a luxury seaside villa or a waterfront apartment, smart shoppers have an abundance of choices at their fingertips.
In the mother city during peak season a holiday rental could vary from anything between R1 200 per day at the V & A Waterfront, to a princely R70 000 in Bantry Bay, where well heeled occupants are happy to exchange Atlantic Seaboard traffic jams for service deliveries and professional caterers. Yet, once the two week peak period before Christmas to early January is over, which to many in the industry is a large proportion of their livelihood during the six month season, off peak periods can be booked at more affordable rates.
For foreign visitors who would otherwise seek the sun elsewhere during our winters, SA remains a good bet all round. Yet, agents say while they did not quite arrive in droves this year, for those who did arrive it was for shorter holidays such as one two week stays compared to two and three weeks previously.
Agents say that during Cape Town’s peak season holiday accommodation just outside the city and further into the countryside have a strong hold in the holiday rental market. By simply travelling for less than half an hour to spectacular beaches or wineland regions, visitors can enjoy sumptuous holiday accommodation of a perfect kind. While some destinations may offer a different perspective of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles, such as spectacular areas including Bloubergstrand or Noordhoek and Simonstown in the far south, the options are endless.
Current consensus is that middle of the road holiday rentals in Cape Town performed reasonably well during this year’s peak season. That is where daily rates ranged from R1 000 to approximately R5 000, for either well positioned upmarket apartments or holiday homes in coastal villages, where in some cases rental occupancies performed above expectations.
Cape Realty villa specialist Simone Smith who specialises in luxury top class rentals along the Atlantic Seaboard, V & A and Cape Town says property owners are adapting to a changing market, that has led to mid level villas becoming more open to price changes. She says although fewer rentals yet very little downscaling was seen, with more local travelers this season, luxury rental lines performed well. Lower but competitively priced apartment rentals at the V & A Waterfront proved popular with locals who choose proximity above a coastal venue. Peak rentals this season ranged from studio apartments at de Waterkant at R1 500 per night to R15 000 for exclusive seaside villas, and a ten day rental at R31 000 per day for a luxury Campsbay villa.
Magda Caalsen of Exact Property Management says V & A bookings enjoyed full occupancy over the peak season, and good bookings through to May. She said during the peak season V & A apartments previously attracting R6 000 per day went for R4 500 per day, and a two bedroom daily rental of R2 900 is booked for the entire season. Caalsen said Bloubergstrand has become a popular alternative to the Atlantic Seaboard due to lower rentals for large luxury homes in excellent positions, attracting three week rentals such as a four bedroom house at R12 000 per day. She said that visitors from abroad as well as upcountry place preference on security, and that the rental market is looking good for upcoming events such as the Cape Argus.
