Developer Keith Stewart says an SA businessman has paid R14-million for a 9 000 m² stand on top of the cliff overlooking the sea on the 630 ha sport and eco estate.

The next-highest recent sale of a beachfront site on the Garden Route is R12m paid for a property on Beachyhead Drive in Plettenberg Bay. The buyer demolished most of the old house on the stand.

The highest price per square metre is probably the R12,5-million Cape-based developer Property Partners chairman Allan Collier paid Brett Kebble for 4 000 m² in Bishop's Court - R3 120/m² against Pezula's R1 600/m² - according to Pam Golding Properties CEO Andrew Golding.

Stewart says the sale takes Pezula past the R200m land sales mark. Half the buyers have been foreigners, the highest proportion of any golf or gated estate in SA. Most golf estates are 90% South African-owned. "No foreign nationality predominates at Pezula," he adds. But the age ranges of the two groups differ.

"Most South Africans are 30- 40 years old, while the international buyers are between 40 and 50. All are business people. The buyer of the R14-million property is local, in his mid-40s.

"It's surprising how many people are selling out at an early age. This buyer intends building a home on the site and winding down over two years. After that he will live permanently at Pezula."

The development was given local authority and environmental approval in May last year and the first six owners should move into their homes before Christmas. The foreign occupants will be an American, a Frenchman and a Hollander.

Financial Mail