Liza & Mike - Immigration Southern Cape

Reasons for buying Property in the Western Cape / Garden Route:
o Best time to be in property in the Garden Route
o 6 international investment property mags Western Cape
Province was in all of them
o May 2003 www.gardenroute.com had 100 000 visits and the
trend is international visitors rather than local
Garden Route
o Main towns - Mossel Bay in the West to Plettenberg Bay in
the East
o N2
o Golfing Mecca of South Africa
o Booming leisure industry
o Excellent infrastructure
Knysna
o Largest remaining closed canopy indigenous forests in
Southern Africa
o Voted Cleanest town in the Western Cape Province
Knysna Tourism Awards
o One of the top 300 companies in the category 'Job Creation'
o Best emerging Marketing Company in Western Cape - MFSA
(Marketing Federation of SA) 2003
Mossel Bay
o Mildest all year climate in the world, second only to Hawaii
Guinness Book of Records
o Historical centre of the GR
Garden Route Facts and Figures:
o Featherbed nature reserve is the most popular attraction on
the GR
o George and Plett Airport very busy Fri pm and Mon am
o Besides tourism and property investment, export of wood and
wood products, production and export of soya, IT sector
o The magnificent mountains, forests, lakes and beaches which
surround the GR make it one of the most picturesque holiday
destinations in SA. The captivating beauty and aura of magic
has drawn many artists and crafts people to this area
o A good example of this is the annual Nederburg Knysna Arts
experience, a ten day cultural feast of visual, performing and
community arts
o GR temperate climate outdoor playground :
Abseiling/ Cycling/ Hiking/ Bird watching/ Paragliding/
Blackwater tubing down racing rivers/ Bungee jumping down
intoxicating gorges 75m Gouritz Bridge/ Creeking/
Canoeing/ Diving/ Golfing/ Horse riding/ Dolphin and Whale
watching Humpback, Minke, Brydes, Orca, Southern Right
Whales (July to Oct)/ Shark cage diving
Homes Overseas Magazine - Oct 2003:
o Property values in the Western Cape rose by 46% between
2000 and 2003
o Foreign buyers represent 15 to 20% of all property sales in
the region
o Thriving UK expat community
o Rates and taxes on a 1.5 million rand home is 75 UK Pounds
per month (R900 @ 12:1)
o Foreigners or non residents are able to buy real estate in SA
o Favourable exchange rate makes buying a property ]
affordable (many UK buyers - investments)
o Investment of 40 000 UK Pounds holiday apartment can
yield 100 UK Pounds per day rental during peak holiday
season
o 300 days of sunshine a year
o Mediterranean style climate
o 'The fairest Cape in all the circumference of the Earth' Sir
Francis Drake
o Rural unemployment - 4%
Rest of the country - 38%
o Urban unemployment - 21%
Rest of the country - 25%
o Poverty figures with an index of 18% are the lowest in SA
o Major hotel chains are well represented in the Cape
Surveys
Engen's Town of the year competition 2002/3:
o Knysna Wins for a second time
o Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay, George (2nd to
5th place) in that order
o Small towns Montagu, Riversdale, Sedgefield
(2.6 million votes cast 33% of votes to the Garden Route
and Klein Karoo Region)
Sunday Times LifeStyle Readers:
o Knysna most popular town
Golf Estates - Complete Golfer 2003:
o Community style of living. Majority non-golfing buyers
o Lock up and go
o Secure environment
o Full time resident and investor
o Well maintained in absence
o Hotels and Country Club facilities
o Variety of other leisure, sporting and recreational activities
other than golf
o Excellent early-bird investment due to the maturing and
ongoing development of the golf estate as a whole
o Investment historically doubled in a 3 year period
o Buyers are both foreign and local
o Foreigners move in for the Southern Hemisphere's summer
months
o 40 residential estates existing or in the process of being
planned
o Saturated? Demand is still increasing
GardenRoute.com:
o Member country list - SA, UK, USA, Oz, India, Qatar, Israel,
Luxembourg, Canada, Belguim, Hong Kong, Tajikistam,
Uzbekistan, Syria
o As European property prices have shot through the roof,
propelled by rock-bottom interest rates, the chances of
owning a dream home remains for many just that, 'a dream'
o SA market continues to grow on the supply side with prices
increasing at a slower, more manageable rate. Property
prices have for the past few years risen in excess of inflation
and are currently playing catch-up, appreciating at lower
levels than two years ago
o SA banks have begun to offer bonds to citizens earning
foreign currency relative to what their salary would be in SA
o 2008 envisaged that high end GR beach property will cost
1 000 000 Euros (8 million rand)
o UK television touted SA as a place to relocate or have a
holiday home. SA been shown 4 times. Meridian TV channel.
I want that house, I want that holiday