Windsor has always been a suburb that people pass through rather than settling in. With its proliferation of townhouses and flats the suburb has always been the perfect space for people who have just arrived in Johannesburg and are looking for a place to stay before moving off to a more permanent residence. This included my parents who stayed in Windsor in the early 1970s before buying a house in the surrounding suburbs.
Windsor today, however, is a different kettle of fish. With its strategic location in the heart of the north-west suburbs, it has become a suburb for people moving out of the townships and looking for accommodation nearer their place of work as well as for immigrants from elsewhere in the continent looking for a place to stay with reasonable rents.
Windsor West sits just to the east of Northcliff and is surrounded on its east by the Randpark Golf course, giving some residents a nice view over one of the top courses in the country. Windsors West has fared better than its sister across the road, Windsor East, and the majority of properties in this suburb appear to be in relatively good condition. What Windsor West has in abundance is greenery. Even if you exclude the golf course the streets of Windsor are lined with trees making the suburb a green oasis.
The suburb is dominated by younger owners with almost 60 percent of owners under the age of 50 and almost 90 percent of recent buyers in this category. As with many suburbs on the lower end of the property ladder there is a fair amount of turnover with only 20 percent of owners having held onto their properties for more than 11 years. Ninety percent of properties in Windsor West are sectional title and the average price for units has remained relatively stable over the past few years, in the region of R400 000.
Seventy nine sectional title properties changes hands in the last 12 months with 41 selling for under R400 000 and 38 selling for more between R400 000 and R800 000. The average price for the units under R400 000 was R266 000 while the average in the higher priced band was R509 000. These prices indicate that there is lots of scope for new buyers looking to get onto the property ladder in an area that is ideally situated and very well priced.
The suburb also has the benefit of being close to a number of top-notch shopping centres with the Heathway Centre (which has a Pick n Pay and a public library) just across Beyers Naude and Cresta shopping centre across Judges Ave. For those who like shopping this suburb or who work in these centres it makes walking to work a breeze.
The other benefit that Windsor West offers is that it is in the centre of some much more upmarket areas and the public schools in the area are top notch. Northcliff High is one of the top government high schools in Johannesburg and Northcliff Primary is also within easy reach.