Once a small blip on the radar of Cape Town buyers, the little green-leafed suburb of Boston has had new life breathed into it by purchasers eager to live in a village environment that offers convenient access to big city amenities. 

So says Benita Basson, principal of Acutts Parow, who believes its growing popularity is not only due to its prime location just north of the N1 highway to Cape Town, but also its natural cap on new development, which comes from its diminutive size.  Comprising just 18 avenues and the side streets that cross them, the suburb has enormous appeal for students owing to its educational offerings.  These include the Tygerberg Hospital, satellite campuses for the University of Stellenbosch and Unisa, and other institutions such as Pentech College.

“It goes without saying that students, particularly those completing their final year medical studies at Tygerberg Hospital, want to live in Boston,” she says.  This demand, which is accompanied by keen investor purchasing, has elevated the prices of two bedroom flats in Third and Fourth Avenues from R480 000 a year ago to around R650 000 today.  According to Basson, owners of 75 square metre flats are now commanding monthly rentals of up to R3 800, which is a record for the area.

Also driving up property prices in the quaint suburb is the lack of land available for development.  “There are only three vacant stands in the whole of Boston and the owners are not willing to sell. Since the rest of the suburb is built to capacity, there is little opportunity for any new development,” she explains.

On the back of its rising popularity, prices in the suburb have sky-rocketed with typical Boston properties, which would have sold for between R245 000 and R300 000 three years ago, now being listed for R1 million plus.  These properties are characterized by older-style three bedroom houses on small 496 square metre stands, she says. 

Not only are students and investors trickling steadily into Boston, but so are professional people looking for affordable premises out of which to operate their businesses and practices.  ”These buyers are definitely focusing on value for money and are not area-specific.  Since only the properties in First Avenue have business rights, prices here have spiraled to between R1,4 million and R1,5 million.”

She adds: “Business rentals in Cape Town have become unaffordable to small business owners in general.  This has seen demand for Boston property rise to such a degree that home owners in the suburb’s higher avenues are converting their garages into office space.”

Basson says there has been a visible change in the profile of the typical residential Boston buyer in recent years.  While eager to invest in the suburb, they are no longer snapping up stock as it comes on to the market.  “Three years ago, properties were selling before we could put them on show.  Now, the average selling period for a correctly priced property is 157 days, owing to the propensity of buyers to shop around in other suburbs before making a decision.”  This she attributes to a combination of factors that include heightened caution on the part of buyers in the wake of the new credit legislation, conservative property valuations by the banks in many instances, and unrealistic price expectations on the part of sellers, she says.