After peaking in mid-2015 and a subsequent period of flat growth, Parktown North seems set for a return as developers target one of Gauteng’s most popular destination suburbs.

Following its inclusion in the Gautrain route in 2011, infrastructure upgrades in the area, as well as considerable private and public sector investment, Rosebank has undergone a complete transformation.

While house price growth in Gauteng has shown tentative signs of recovery in the last 12 months, the residential property market in the greater Midrand region has, in terms of demand, steadily continued its upward trajectory on the back of rapid development in the area.

If Sandton, the financial centre of South Africa, has been impacted by the national economic slowdown, the city appears, at least physically, to show little sign of this.

While much has been said regarding the slowing in house price growth in recent months, the residential property market in Gauteng is a highly complex one, with sharp regional and suburban variations, and there are a number highly positive developments within the region’s property sector.

“While many South African consumers have started to feel the economic pinch in recent months, the demand for accommodation in the greater Johannesburg area has continued unabated, and this has ensured that the residential rental property market in much of the region has remained robust.

The flight of many businesses from the Johannesburg central business district, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, in the 1990s saw Sandton become the new financial district of South Africa.

Propertuity and Pam Golding Properties (PGP) have announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership in which PGP will not only market residential accommodation in one of Johannesburg’s most vibrant and trendy precincts, Maboneng, but it will also provide strategic guidance and advice. 

While the market in residential property developments has slowed and many of the smaller borderline developers have all but disappeared in these lean times, there have been “bright spots in the market and indications are that the development market is in the process of a gradual recovery”, says Pam Golding Properties (PGP), Hyde Park region development manager, Peet Strauss.