Century City is continuing to defy the slowdown in the residential property market reporting a 70% increase in sales in new developments in the second half of 2006 against the corresponding period the previous year.

Allen Usher, MD of Property World, the exclusive on-site agents at Century City, said a total of 139 homes and apartments in four new developments by the Rabie Property Group were sold between July and December last year against 82 during the second half of 2005. The total value of sales of new homes and apartments for this period was up 64% at R168,2m.  Over and above the sale of new units, 16 apartments were on-sold for a total of just over R21m.

Usher said contrary to general market reports that the residential market had slowed on the back of interest rate increases; there had been no drop-off in demand for residential properties at Century City.  “It has had no effect whatsoever on the Century City market where houses and apartments are continuing to enjoy substantial capital growth which is more than offsetting increased interest rates,” he said.

The continued high level of demand was evident in the launch of Manhattan, a luxury apartment tower, in November last year where 55 of the 95 units were snapped up for a total of more than R80m in the first couple of weeks.

Usher said the festive season, which was traditionally a quiet sales period, had also been unseasonably busy with 64 new sales and resales being sold since the beginning of December.  “This augurs well for the first quarter of the year which, apart from new product launches, is traditionally our busiest time of the year and we are expecting further growth of at least 10% off this higher base for both new developments and resale stock”.

Usher said what was kicking in now and fuelling the positive outlook was the fact that there were still sectors of the market that were unaware of the extent of development at Century City and that it was rapidly becoming a booming residential and commercial hub with every conceivable convenience, including the country’s largest shopping centre, literally on one’s doorstep.  He said they were very excited about new product launches lined up for 2007 as these would cater for both the top-end of the market as well as the R900 000 to R1,5m purchaser.

“The philosophy of the Rabie Property Group, the developer of Century City, has always been to offer developments at an attractive price and to leave some meat on the bone so by the time a purchaser takes transfer his unit has already shown capital growth way above inflation.

“It is this philosophy that has encouraged investors to follow Rabie from one project to another and why we are still seeing a high percentage of investors – around 40% - in new products that we launch. This investor support is also helped by the fact that demand for rented accommodation at Century City, particularly from the corporate market, is continuing to grow particularly as more and more companies are relocating their offices to this burgeoning precinct which is not only centrally located but offers a level of high level of infrastructure, facilities and security.”

Property World has relocated to new showroom offices at Colosseum, Century Way, Century City.