Copy by Graham White Managing Director, Local Real Estate
KwaZulu-Natal has definitely taken a few knocks in recent years with both riots and floods hitting the headlines. This brought about some knee jerk reactions where relocating to the Cape, moving to George and other coastal locations was the perceived way to go. The dust however has settled and there many positive reasons as to why KZN and in particular the North Coast is the place to be in terms of investment and lifestyle based on some exciting recent announcements.
In our first Local Real estate newsletter we had an article entitled “Road Upgrade Set to Benefit The North Coast Community”. A few weeks ago, the Collins Residential Group announced that this happening, as well as several others which they are an integral part of are now happening. The big announcement was the confirmation that Club Med will be breaking ground soon in Tinley Manor, with the first guests expected to arrive in a few years’ time. The fact that Club Med has chosen this part of Southern Africa over other potential locations speaks volumes of what they think of the beautiful North Coast.
They clearly have strict criteria when selecting a new destination, which Tinley ticked all the boxes for. These vital criteria include a warm year-round climate and being within a certain distance to an international airport, which is not always that easy to find for a coastal destination with the right climate. Club Med will certainly bring lots of travellers into the area, but there will also be also a huge uptick which will feed the local economy and that will be the many contractors, sub-contractors, and other employment opportunities that will accompany this project development.
As equally exciting are the additional infrastructure upgrades that are also coming to the area. Several are desperately needed and will certainly be needed as the new developments continue to grow. A major upgrade is the completion of the tarring of the road leading to Flag Farm ( the municipal P228 Road) and the new off ramp that will be built between Salt Rock and Tinley Manor which Collins confirmed will be completed during 2024. This addition will be revolutionary for the developments and residential area north of Salt Rock and will have a very positive impact on house prices. Even sooner will be the widening of the road and an improved traffic flow by the Salt Rock Road and Sheffield Beach Road intersection. These two improvements will provide a huge relief in the Sheffield/Salt Rock area, again making properties in these areas more desirable and again having a positive impact on the values.
The Collins Residential Group also spoke about the welcome announcement that an independent school will be built in the mixed-use zone between Sheffield Manor and Lalela. This will be both a primary and a high school and is in the final stages of approval, with first admissions potentially as soon as 2026.
Add in the further investments that have been written about recently to the airport area and Durban Port and it doesn’t take an economist or financial planner to tell you that investing in property in the North Coast area over the next 10 years should yield some very nice returns.
When looking to invest in areas, a vital aspect is how well the area is future proofed. All of these announcements hit the bullseye metric. Markets for the most part run on sentiment, and I strongly feel, with all of the mentioned above and further future developments on the horizon, that the North Coast sentiment is back with a bang.