Historic Durbanville ranked no 1 of Cape Town’s northern suburbs.
From its earliest inception Durbanville has been seen by Capetonians as prestigious, exclusive and a cut above other Cape Town Northern Suburbs. Originally known as Pampoenkraal, the town was established in 1825 and renamed in 1836 in honour of Benjamin d’Urban, then Governor of the Cape. It was named d simply D'Urban, but after the British annexed Natal in 1843 and gave its largest town that name, the Cape D'Urban became Durbanville so as to avoid confusion. Its reputation was almost immediately enhanced by being one of the very few country towns to be given a Dutch Reformed Church, completed in 1826.
Another factor which conferred prestige on the town was that under the King brothers it became the centre of the Cape’s largest wagon building industry. Spurred on by the huge need for transport to service the diamond rush from 1870 onwards, the business grew to the point where it employed 200 people. The town’s reputation was then further enhanced by its being able to attract several good viticulturists to establish vineyards around it, many of which are now famous.
Today, says Rowan Alexander, Director of Alexander Swart Property (which has recently established a branch in Durbanville), Durbanville’s association with Cape history is being brought to its residents’ notice by the restoration of its historic Heritage Square and surrounding buildings. Durbanville residents, he says, appreciate the ‘sense of identity’, of being part of a separate community with its own character that Durbanville gives to them.
“These and certain other factors,” says Alexander, “have made Durbanville the town to which a great many Northern Suburbs residents aspire to move to one day, if and when they can afford to upgrade. What is more, a fair number of Southern Suburbs people, looking for a village atmosphere and a more rural lifestyle as well as the larger plots and homes that are often found in Durbanville, are now also moving here.”
Durbanville’s high degree of sophistication, says Alexander, is shown by the fact that it has no less than 76 listed restaurants and bistros, most of which are well patronized, 12 of them being on nearby wine estates. It also has three hotels and 33 B&Bs and guesthouses, a race track (for horses not cars), a polo ground and showjumping venues, cricket, rugby and soccer clubs and several keep fit gyms. The wine estate Hillcrest regularly hosts events such as the Brandy and Boerewors festival , Olive and Sauvignon Blanc Festivals and many estates have MTB and walking trails. A very high percentage of the residents, says Alexander, make use of these facilities regularly.
The growing affluence of residents in the area, says Alexander, has also had an effect on its educational facilities. It was here that the first Curro School was established and today the area is said to have one of the highest concentration of Schools in South Africa – 18 in all, including Durbanville Preparatory, Durbanville Primary, Eversdal Primary, Gene Louw Primary, Kenridge Primary, Chester House, El Shaddai Christian School and Reddam School. There are also three well known high schools, many of them linked to primary schools.
Durbanville’s perennial appeal, says Alexander, has for some time now resulted in an influx of upper income buyers: according to the analysts, Lightstone, average family incomes here are in the R70,000 to R90,000 per month bracket, almost the highest category in South Africa today, and the area’s property prices rank it 30th among towns in South Africa, on roughly the same level as Somerset West and Simonstown.
Median prices for freehold homes at Durbanville rose from R1,180,000 in 2007 to R2,200,000 in 2017 (thus far) and a staggering R2,8 billion has been turned over in property sales over the last year.
Today of the 23,616 properties at Durbanville, almost 60% are in gated estates (another reason for the high and steady prices) or sectional title schemes and new developments continue to take place in the area on a steady basis, some of the better known at the moment being Clara Anna Fontein, Klein D’Aria, 23 Boland, 5th on Murray and Heerenzicht.
Freehold homes in the area, says Alexander, today sell between R3,5 million and R30 million. In the sectional title market, the average price over the last year has been R945,000 and the price for vacant land has been R1,245,000. The average price for all homes ( including sectional title) is R2,2 million.
“For those who can afford it,” says Alexander, “there can be very few better residential property buys than a home in Durbanville. Those who live here testify time and again that it offers a wonderful community-orientated, semi-rural lifestyle and a low crime rate coupled to top rate educational, retail and entertainment facilities.”
07 Nov 2017
Author Independent author.