PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plettenberg Bay is known for its natural beauty and tourism offerings, but can now also add exclusivity to the list of attributes.
Researchers this week announced a list of the country’s most exclusive suburbs and Plettenberg Bay features prominently.
The feedback forms part of the SA 2016 Wealth Report compiled by New World Wealth.
In order to measure the exclusivity of a suburb, two aspects were taken into consideration, explained New World Wealth spokesperson Andrew Amoils.
“Firstly, we consider the price per square metre statistics. This is internationally considered to be the best way. However, this measure has some limitations, especially when it comes to evaluating houses, for example, how do you value the garden?
"The truth is price per square meter stats only work really well on apartments, and some areas don’t have many apartments, which make this tricky.”
Amoils said the second consideration was the number of R20-million homes in an area.
“This allows one to see how many very wealthy people are living in an area. However, this measure can be deceiving as areas that are mainly large houses tend to outperform areas that are mainly apartments, as very few apartments are large enough to cost over R20-million.
"Also, some suburbs are much larger than others, which unfairly favours them. That is why we considered both.”
While Cape Town’s streets filled all the spots in the top 10 most expensive streets and developments in South Africa – where residents fork out anything between R75 000 and R96 000/sq m for their luxury homes – Plettenberg Bay’s sought-after Beachyhead Drive took second place in the spots outside of the Mother City.
This luxury lane in Plett – lined with mansion after mansion overlooking the town’s unspoilt beaches at a hefty R42 000/sq m – just missed out on the top spot, which went to Michelangelo and Raphael penthouse suits in Sandton, Johannesburg, pricing R45 000/sq m.
Melrose Arch in Sandton took third spot at R36 000/sq m while Lagoon Drive in Umhlanga Rocks and The Houghton in Sandton tied for fourth at R35 000/sq m.
Plettenberg Bay’s Nature’s Valley also made an impact and is one of the fastest-growing suburbs among the wealthy over the past year, said Amoils, with a square metre going for about R8 000.
In terms of R20-million homes outside of Cape Town and Johannesburg, Plett topped the list with 130 homes and came in second overall. The only area with more R20-million homes was Camps Bay and Bakhoven with 200.
Knysna also featured here, taking third place with 100 of these luxury homes.
ARTICLE: YOLANDÉ STANDER, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
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