Pinelands has emerged as a family friendly, value packed suburb. That’s the news from Tim Christien of the Rawson’s property group who says that Pinelands compares favourably when likened to some of its more expensive residential counterparts. “For instance, the average three bedroom, two bathroom freehold Pinelands home stands astride a spacious plot measuring 850 sqm’s on average and sells for R1,8m. A similar house located on a 600sqm plot will sell for over R2m in Rondebosch or Claremont. The upshot is that savvy buyers with families are doing the math and are increasingly opting for a property in Pinelands which, in addition to better value for money homes, has just as much to offer as Rondebosch or Claremont.”
Pinelands is the ‘original’ garden city suburb of Cape Town and lives up to its original design. According to records on the area, Pinelands represents the first attempt at a planned town in South Africa. Sir Ebenezer Howard drafted the plans for the area which was originally a Victorian era pine tree farm named Uitvlugt. The land was granted to the Garden Cities Trust in 1919 and was capitalised in part by a member of the trust, namely Richard Stuttaford of Stuttaford’s fame. The first Pinelands homes were thatched and fashioned in the Tudor style. The first of these, number 3 Mead Way, was built and occupied in 1922 and has since been declared a national monument.
And while a number of Pineland’s outlying Tudor style properties have been converted over the years, Christien says you just have to know where to look to find one of these gems. Indeed, he recently sold a double volume Tudor style house which at one time served as a B&B for R2, 7m.The house in question features eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms but had been neglected somewhat post its B&B days, hence the bargain price.
Broadly speaking, Pinelands’ property market can be defined into two nodes: Olde Pinelands and the ‘champagne’ district. Olde Pinelands is home to Mead Way and a significant number of the aforementioned ‘budget’ homes. As the name suggest many of Pineland’s finest homes can be found in the champagne district. A number of these back onto the Mowbray Golf Course - another popular Pinelands feature- and sell for between R2, 6m and R3m on average.
Of course if you fancy another type of property entirely, Pinelands provides. According to Christien, one bedroom apartments sell for R500 000; two bedroom clusters at Howard Hamlet are moving at between R650 000 and R750 000, and estate homes at Parklane Estate and The Orchards are selling for R1,7m on average. Lightstone statistics on the area put the latest sectional title average price at R752 000 and freehold property prices at R1,7m.
In terms of amenities, Pinelands contains two small shopping centres, a number of churches, good schools, the Vincent Pallotti hospital, clinics and a police station. Green pockets and trees litter the landscape and two Metrorail stations are also located within its boundaries.
“The fact that Pinelands plays host to Old Mutual’s headquarters is a strong draw card in its own right,” remarks Christien. “Over 7000 people work at this establishment and unsurprisingly many have opted to live in Pinelands in a bid to cut commuting time and costs. In a nutshell, Pinelands simply has all the right ingredients and the property market is adjusting well in the face of external economic and legislative pressure which bodes well for the future prospects of this appealing suburb.”