The towns of Ashburton, Cato Ridge, Drummond, between Shongweni and Pietermaritzburg, and the open space between Ramsgate and Port Edward on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, have been cited by a leading homeloan expert as the province's next property hotspots.

With the north coast and Hillcrest region running almost on empty apart from the occasional gulp of new and very expensive development land onto the market, Rudi Botha, CEO of PA BetterBond, is forecasting substantial new residential development ribboning the N3 freeway between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in the next two to five years.

"Initial development focus will be around existing towns such as Ashburton, Cato Ridge and  Drummond, but the high number of good freeway access points along the busy express route opens the whole area up to new development opportunity."

His forecast is based on lack of new development ground within the Greater Durban area, the high costs of the little remaining land within the region and the excellent city commuter access offered by the N3 to Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Further suitability to the region's development is the overspill in demand for the growing bottleneck of new development for Pietermaritzburg residents.

"New building within the capital  has been seriously muted for some years by the shortage of suitable ground in and around it."

Turning to the lower south coast, Botha says the many years of oversupply of second-hand homes in the region has almost dried up with the result that there is strong upward pressure on prices of existing homes  and homes in new developments, but once again the latter initiative has been stifled by the shortage of suitable land.

Botha believes the region between Ramsgate and Port Edward will become hugely attractive as a holiday and retirement mecca during the next five years, spurred to a huge extent by the comparatively high asking prices on the city's north coast.

Botha says KZN's new development market is set to enjoy a massive boom in the next three years because of the region's comparatively low cost of property, rising foreign interest and as a holiday home destination for wealthy up-country investors. - The Mercury