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Bright prospects for Saldanha/Vredenburg, says Rawson principal 2009-07-13
Quinton and Yvette Dawson, the recently established franchisees for Rawson Properties’ Vredenburg/Saldanha franchise, commented recently that probably 19 out of 20 Capetonians have never seen the Saldanha beachfront and do not even know that the town has such an attractive tourist orientated facility.

"Saldanha has in the last 20 years become synonymous with industrial progress, big enterprises like Saldana Steel, the Portnet ore harbour, Namaqua Sands and a whole host of smaller initiatives have focused attention on the industrial activities here – but in the meantime it has been forgotten that this is one of the most pleasant and peaceful towns in the Cape and that, with our yacht harbour, several diving companies and endless beaches, we can offer much that people traditionally go to Langebaan and Club Mykonos to enjoy."

The town's attractions, says Dawson, will become far more widely appreciated in the next five years and for this reason a property buy here now represents an excellent investment.

"Saldanha's time has come. The first recent big step forward has been the development of the R400 million West Coast Mall, due to open soon. For the first time Saldanha and Vredenburg residents will have most of the big name retailers - Checkers, Mr Price, @ Home, Clicks and Game on their doorsteps. This sophisticated facility is changing perceptions of the area."

The Dawsons worked previously as agents in the Bothasig franchise but they decided to buy and set up the new franchise after seeing the unit sales figures for the area. These revealed that last year 485 homes were sold in Saldanha, 672 in Vredenburg, 169 in Paternoster (which is part of their territory) and 966 plots and homes in St Helena Bay (also part of the territory, along with Jacobsbaai and Velddrif).

Some idea of the value obtainable at Saldanha can be gained from the average price of a two and three bedroom home – this is R900,000 and some can even be found at R600,000.

The prime areas here, say the Dawsons, are the beachfront and the mountainside, the latter offering panoramic views of the bay and the lagoon. Here prices can be R2 to R3 million – but this is half what people are paying for similar Langebaan homes. Paternoster Village is also capable of achieving high prices, most of the recent sales there being to cash buyers at R1,5 to R3, million.

Many properties throughout the Paternoster area, he adds, can attract rentals of R1 000 to R2 000 per day in season. Monthly rentals in Saldanha and Vredenburg are boosted by large numbers of temporary and contract workers in the industries already mentioned.

The new franchise is, therefore, setting up a rental division and the Dawsons expect this to become very active.

Looking ahead, the Dawsons say that the coming year should see a huge improvement in the bank loans situation.

"At the moment," they say, "up to two thirds of bond applications are not accepted but that will change and, along with a growing awareness of what the West Coast can offer (which, incidentally includes a lack of traffic congestion on the run to Cape Town) we will, we predict, see prices rise by some 20% by the end of in 2010 because the area has so much to offer but is still very affordable."