It’s hot, it’s hip and it’s the most ‘happening’ place in the Western Cape to live right now, boasting a heady combination of magnificent beaches, awesome views and the integrated urban lifestyle sought after by up-and-coming executives and professionals.

The Blouberg area along the Cape’s Western Seaboard is rapidly becoming one of the country’s top seaside playgrounds for both local and foreign holidaymakers.

It is already a hot residential choice for Cape Town’s young executives and professionals, with long white beaches on their doorstep, trendy restaurants and cafés all along the shoreline, premier shopping venues and designer apartments and penthouses boasting world-class views at comparatively low prices.

Blouberg has been one of the fastest-growing areas in South Africa over the past few years. It is rated one of the top kitesurfing beaches in the world, and other popular leisure activities here include whale and dolphin watching, shark diving, cycling, canoeing and sailing.

There are also several excellent golf courses in the area and plenty of places along the seafront where one can take in the spectacular views of Table Mountain, Robben Island and the Cape Town skyline while sipping a sundowner.

There is a constant demand for holiday rentals and sustained interest among developers as a result, with many new projects now coming on stream in Bloubergrant and around Big Bay. The long-term rental market is also extremely busy. There is a large contingent of foreign residents, and apartments and houses renting for between R3,500 and R7,000 pm are in high demand, while beachfront apartments and penthouses attract tenants at rentals right up to R25,000 pm.

This makes Blouberg a choice area for local buy-to-let investors as well as the increasing number of SA expats keen to buy properties ‘back home’, which they see as likely to increase in value faster than those in the UK, Europe and many other parts of the world that were hard-hit by the recession.

Prices in Blouberg, which includes the suburbs of Bloubergrant, Bloubergrise, West Beach, Bloubergsands, Blouberg proper and Blouberstrand, start at around R500,000 for a one-bedroom apartment inland, and range between R900,000 (bachelor’s) and R2.5m (two-bedroom) for a high-rise apartment with views on the beachfront.

A three-bedroom townhouse close to the beach with two bathrooms, double garaging and a private garden can be had for around R1.8m. Three-bedroom, two-bath apartments start at around R2.1m and there are brand-new, palatial penthouses in beachfront blocks available for around R20m.

In the Big Bay estates, there are stands available for around R2.2m for those who would like to build their own homes.