Consistent sales of luxury properties in Cape Town
Cape Town hit the news for a very different than usual and decidedly alarming reason recently. For a time, the focus on this fairest Cape was less on its scenic beauty, laid-back lifestyle, desirability as one of the best places to live, and its exclusive properties for sale in its exceptionally vibrant property market. Instead, the news media reported on the severe drought and the resulting water shortage.
Capetonians and Cape Town spent a major part of 2017 and the first half or 2018 making headlines because of severe drought conditions and lack of water – to drink, cook, and wash – the fundamental, essential, life-sustaining uses of fresh, clean water. This applies to all persons equally, in Cape Town and also in any and every other city and region, everywhere in the world, without exception.
Day Zero
The Cape Town region is a winter rainfall area, which meant that there was a minimal chance that the drought, almost empty water storage dam levels, and scarcity of water would be relieved before the arrival of winter and hopefully, good rainfall.
After the imposition and enforcement of exceptionally strict water restrictions in an attempt to save the ever-dwindling supply of this life-giving liquid, the local authorities estimated by when there would be no more and taps would run dry. This regularly adjusted date was named Day Zero which, fortunately, never arrived.
Minimal impact on luxury properties for sale
Although opinions differ overall, it doesn’t seem to us, at Fine & Country South Africa, that this situation has had a major negative impact on properties for sale in the affluent Cape Town property sales sector, the sector in which we specialise as one of South Africa’s leading upscale estate agencies. Of course, everyone at Fine & Country South Africa continued to do their duty in trying to conserve water, like all responsible citizens, because we are also very environmentally aware.
Business as usual
There may have been a slight dip in demand for properties on sale, but thus far, this has been largely negligible for our buyers and sellers, despite the harsh, but entirely essential water-use restrictions placed on all Cape Town residents and property owners, as well as visitors to our fair city and surrounding region. Our particular business speciality, luxury property transactions, has continued virtually unabated – business very much as usual.
“Business as usual” is all the more remarkable when, in light of the size of our city’s population, one considers that the critical shortage of potable water in the dams and water sources that normally supply our Mother City was almost reduced to nothing at all. Cape Town is a major city with a population which consisted of 3 740 026 people in 2011, according to the census which took place in that year – currently the latest official population statistic for Cape Town.
Undoubtedly, this statistic has long since been exceeded, very significantly, because of the popularity of the Cape as one of the most sought-after places to live. According to worldpopulationreview.com, the 2018 population may be approximately 4 430 367 people, who are all dependent on water to survive.
National Marine Month
South Africa, including the Western Cape, has a long coastline, where the land and ocean meet. Because the oceans play such a critical role in determining our weather, temperature, and rainfall patterns, the government has instituted National Marine Month from the 1st to the 31st of October 2018.
This far-reaching, essential initiative serves to focus attention on a host of factors also influenced by the health and wellbeing of the oceans – our environments, socio-economic activities, conservation and eco-friendly practices, and green living. We must take care of the precious marine environment that affects the planet and helps sustain all forms of life in Cape Town and everywhere else. Our marine environment, planet, properties, and people of the Cape deserve no less.
