Not so many year ago if you ventured eastward past the Modderfontein interchange on Modderfontein Road you would be out in the veld in a few minutes. Today, however, it is a completely different kettle of fish. Today there are industrial parks and a plethora of housing developments lining the road from Greesnstone Mall to Kempton Park.
Greenstone Hill, one of these areas, is nestled in the shadow of Greenstone Mall and StoneRidge Mall and is one of the top suburbs for return on investment according to a recent Financial Mail article. It is, of course, difficult to assess the true value of properties in the suburb as it has only been fully developed in the past few years but it is clear to see the continued growth in property prices as the development progressed.
Like many of the modern suburbs in Gauteng properties in Greenstone Hill are all either part of estates and in sectional title schemes. Estates make up 60% of the properties with sectional title making up the rest. The prices of estate properties tend to outstrip those in sectional title developments with the average estate property selling for R900 000 and sectional title for R736 000.
When the census takers get round to Greenstone they will find that the average age is much lower that in more established areas with 80% of owners under 50 years old and very few owners over 65. There is a fair amount of activity in the market with 222 estate properties changing hands in the past 12 months. Of those more than 100 were in the R400 000 – R800 000 part of the market. The second largest segment of the market was in the R1.5-million to R3-million where 75 properties changed hands.
The area around Greenstone is probably one of the largest developments in Gauteng in recent years with chemicals giant, AECI selling off large portions of its land for development. There have even been rumours of a Gautrain station being built in the area, but nothing has come of that as yet. The train does run close by and those wishing to use it can look towards Rhodesfield and Malboro stations for access to the train system. The name of the suburb gives a massive clue as to what how easy it is to get to shopping facilities with two big shopping centres just up the hill.
Education wise the best place to look towards for schools is Edenvale, with at least four primary schools within easy driving distance and four high schools just as close. Also, with the highway easy to access getting to establishments further afield is not too much of a chore.