Expat Guide on Cape Town HousingKnow all the facts and secrets...... and what you really should know about Cape Town housing.
House Hunting in Cape TownYou will have to make some tough decisions. So start with these questions:
• Do you want to live by the mountain or the sea? • Do you prefer living in the city or in the countryside? • Do you want to live in a gated estate or will you feel safe enough living in a quiet street? • Do you have a limited budget or can you go for a top address?
Where to find a new home in Cape Town?There are many good Cape Town housing areas which will offer everything you as an expatriate will expect from your new home.You surely will be concerned about finding a home which is close to school and work and most importantly, where you can feel at home, where you feel safe and at ease. In many of the more upmarket suburbs you will meet other expatriate residents and will find all the amenities you will need for daily life. Here I will mention some of the favorite housing areas which expats choose for living in Cape Town. In these areas you will find good health centers and private hospitals, private schools and shopping centers to cater also for the expat’s needs. Activity- and sports centers for the children are usually located in these suburbs too.
Favorite suburbs for expat housing in Cape Town:
Central Cape Town , Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht, Higgovale, Gardens and Vredehook, where there are many properties with splendid views across the city and over Table Mountain. There are good neighborhood watches in these suburbs. The history Malay Quarter is very popular with Muslims in general and now more and more young professionals who prefer living in the colourful houses in Bo Kaap close to the City Centre. Up and coming are Observatory and Woodstock, but there you will have to look closer at the security of the area. Atlantic Seabord: Sea Point, Green Point, Bantry Bay, Clifton, Camps Bay and Bakoven, which are all located at the foot of Lion's Head and famous for their view over the Atlantic Ocean and their white sandy beaches. Greenpoint also is receiving a massive facelift at the moment it is here where the Greenpoint Stadium for the World Cup 2010 is being built. Hout Bay is popular as it seems to be a little town of itself and naturally there is still stunning but most expensive: Llandudno with its sheltered cosy half-moon bay.
Southern Suburbs: Rondebosch, Claremont, Newlands which are close to the University of Cape Town as well as Wynberg, Constantia and Bishopscourt for the well heeled. These suburbs are close to the some of the best private schools in Cape Town. Here you will often find huge mansions and well hidden estate houses and big plots. But the prices are correspondingly high. Northern Suburbs: Panorama, Plattekloof and Durbanville with its leafy suburbs Eversdal and Kenridge. The Northern Suburbs around the Tygerberg also offer many beautiful suburbs like Welgemoed, Oude Westhof or Van Riebeeckshof where you will have georgeous views either over the Cape Flats and Table Mountain or you will get the stunning view looking over the Stellenbosch and Paarl Mountain ranges and all the open fields and wine estates. West Coast: Milnerton (especially Milnerton Proper close to the high school and the gated estates in Royal Ascot) Century City mainly for great new Cape Town apartments, Sunset Beach and Sunset Links Golf Estate, Blouberg (Blaauwberg) , Tableview, Flamingo Vlei, Parklands and Sunningdale. Further north there is also Melkbosstrand and the huge Atlantic Beach Golf Estate. There you will find also good schools and amenities. False Bay: Muizenberg , St. James, Kalk Bay, Fishhoek, and Simonstown along the Indian Ocean Coast offer great out-of-town-feeling. Muizenberg which is in the process of being revived in many areas is a firm favorite with surfers and beach lovers. In St. James there are many well renovated Victorian homes with that special flair. But make sure your commute to work does not dominate your life. Helderberg: Gordon’s Bay and Somerset West. Here you will find many gated estates: beach estates, golf estates like the famous Erinvale Golf Estate and naturally also the wine estates. These gated housing areas are very popular with many expatriates who can work from home or have their offices close by, as the daily commute to Cape Town does take on nightmarish proportions, like one of my friends admitted.
How to find a home in Cape Town?• Get acquainted with the different suburbs and check out the areas where you would like to live, i.e which are close to your work, as traffic jams are quite nerve-racking, like anywhere else in the world.• Then check the property pages in the Cape Town newspapers . Get the either the Cape Times Wednesday edition with its Cape Town Housing section or the Cape Argus weekend paper and find the Cape Property supplements. Check out the prices and the areas. The Wednesday paper usually also has got a page or two of rental property in and around Cape Town. • If you are interested in buying property: Sunday means show house day for the Cape Town estate agents. Usually between 2p.m. and 5p.m., the doors of the show houses (houses for sale) are open for any interested buyers. You will have to leave your details with the agent on duty, but that is a good idea as they will keep you posted about any new property in their portfolio too. • Furthermore it is a good idea to give the estate agents in your preferred suburb a call and ask them to take you around to some properties. Rental agents as well as property agents will be happy to show you around your preferred Cape Town housing area.
When moving to Cape Town expatriates tend to rent a place at the start of their posting. For the initial time of house hunting I would recommend you stay in a serviced apartment, of which many are on offer in town. Go to my article about serviced Apartments in Cape Town Should you have any question regarding Cape Town Housing, please feel free to contact me . If you have information about Cape Town housing options to share, please also send me a quick note, so I can come back to you. Looking forward to hearing from you.
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