PropStats’ data from the Western Cape Institute of Estate Agents indicate that the much-publicised slowdown in the demand for residential property in South Africa has, by and large, not been nearly as severe in the Western Cape as some reports might have suggested.

PropStats’ figures, says manager Annette Evans, show that in October just under R1bn (R951,675,000) worth of property was sold at an average price of R1,046,527. This was and average of 13.7% below asking price and the average time for a sale to be achieved was 97 days.

“By comparison,” says Evans, “the figures for October 2009 were R1,156bn worth of property sold at an average price of R1,956,452, which as 10.4% below list price on average. It would seem, therefore, that we are working through the so-called recession fairly successfully. And now that we have had a further drop in interest rates, an upswing is likely in March/April 2011.”

PropStats’’ figures also show that Atlantic Seaboard prices, at an average of R4.3m, were the highest in the Cape even though they averaged 25% below asking price. The next best performer was the City Bowl area, with an average price of R2.87m, followed by Constantiaberg (R2.37m) and Hout Bay (R2.85m).

Meanwhile the latest figures from the Cape regional office of FNB Home Loans show that among middle-income areas, those in the Western Cape were the best performers during the third quarter, with an average sale price of R873,163, which was 20.8% up y-o-y. In the affordable segment, the Western Cape came second with an average price of R404,746, which was 18% up y-o-y.

In the high income areas of the Western Cape (average price R1,3m) the growth was a very satisfactory 13%. Even at the top end of the market, the rate of price growth was 6.1%.