Westridge Suburb - Somerset West - Property Market Report

Location

Westridge is located in between West Avenue on the western side (adjacent to Somerset Ridge suburb) and Rue De Jacqueline Street on the eastern side (adjacent to Audas Estate). It stretches from Main Road (north and adjacent to the The Links suburb) to South Avenue (southern border).

Lifestyle Offerings

The Westridge suburb offers convenient proximity to most amenities. A variety of high and primary schools (state as well as private schools) as well as crèches are within a few minutes' walk or drive from it.

The Somerset West Country Club (golf course) forms a part of the suburb whilst 4 other golf clubs are close by -  Strand Golf Club (5 km), Erinvale Golf Club (5 km), Greenways Golf Club (10 km) and Helderberg Village (5km).

Strand's Melkbaai beach is only 5 km away.

Westridge boasts with beautiful mountain and even sea views for some of the houses with ample public open spaces for doggie walks or just strolling or jogging along the green belts in the area.

Amenities In & Around Suburb

SCHOOLS : Parel Vallei High School (dual medium state school) is 3 km from Westridge (via Dummer Street) whilst Somerset Primary and the De Hoop Primary School (both dual medium state schools) are respectively 1.5 km and 1 km away.

A variety of private schools are also available in and around Westridge suburb. Somerset West Private School (high school) is in Rue De Jacqueline (part of Westridge), Somerset House (primary school) is 3 km from Westridge, Somerset College (7 km), Curro Sitari Independent School (High, Primary & Crèche) (8km) and Reddam House Somerset (6 km).

CRECHES: There are a variety of crèches available in and around Westridge - with LAMP (Learning Adventure Montessori Pre-School) (1,4 km), Somerset Kidz (1,2 km), Bumble Love Pre-School (1 km) probably the closest.   Of the other well-known crèches within 2 km of Westridge suburb are Die Wingerd Pre-Primer (1,7 km) and Rooha (opposite De Hoop Primary) probably the most well-known ones.

SHOPPING: The Waterstone Village shopping centre is within 2 km from the majority of the suburb's homes - which includes not only one of the best Woolworths in South Africa, but also a Virgin Active Gym (with an indoor pool).

The Somerset Mall regional shopping centre with 200 shops is 4 km away. The Lion Square Convenience Centre with an excellent Superspar, an after hour pharmacy and a variety of take-away food shops is only 1,5 km away from Westridge. The Sanctuary Shopping Centre - which includes a Woolworths, Pick & Pay and a variety of eateries as well as a Virgin Active Gym, is 5 km away. The "Gants" Virgin Active Gym is only 4 km from Westridge

PETROL: 3 Petrol filling stations are located close to Westridge - BP on the corner of Old Stellenbosch Road and Main Road are right opposite Westridge - whilst Total Helderberg is 2 km away & next to Lion Square Convenience Centre and BP (opposite Waterstone Village Centre) is 1,6 km away.

SECURITY: Somerset West S.A.P.S (Police) is located inside Westridge suburb whilst Somerset West Fire Station is 2,5 km away.

MEDICAL: The Busamed Paardevlei Private Hospital and the adjacent Somerset West Cure Day Clinic are 4,6 km from Westridge, whilst the largest private hospital in the Helderberg, Vergelegen Medi-Clinic is 3,2 km from the suburb. Other medical facilities close by includes Strand Medi-Clinic (7,6 km) and Spescare Helderberg Sub-Acute (7,6 km) as well as the Helderberg State Hospital (2,3 km).

Owner profile

The average household income range is according to Lightstone between R70 000 to R90 000 - which falls into the LSM 10 High range with a total of 565 adults living in Westridge.

The period or tenure of ownership, which is a measure of ownership stability, shows that about 53% of the existing owners have been owning for 11 or more years, about 10% between 8 to 10 years, about 15% between 5 to 7 years and 22% for less than 5 years.

The age profile of the stable owners in the Westridge suburb is fairly mature with 63% of the owners older than 50 years - of which 33% is older than 65 years, 30% (50 to 64 years), 33% (36 to 49 years) and 4% (35 and younger). The recent buyers' age profile is predominantly in the age group 36 to 49 (57%) - which shows that the suburb has been attracting of late mainly families - Only 33% of the buyers were older than 50 whilst 10% were aged between 18 to 35 years.

Suburb's Real Estate Market

The Westridge suburb in Somerset West consist of 305 own title or freehold houses which constitutes 100% of all properties in the suburb. There are no freehold homes in estates and also no sectional title properties (apartments) in Westridge.

Most houses in Westridge were built in the sixties and seventies. It is therefore an established suburb which has long reached maturity - with only 17 vacant land sales transaction taking place during the last 10 years.

Property Market Sales

11 Houses were sold (registered) in Westridge suburb during the last 12 months (November 2017 to October 2018) - 4 property transfers took place in the last 3 months.  5 Erven (vacant land) were transferred in the last 12 months and there have been no sales in execution since 2015.

Property sales (registrations) in Westridge has during the first 10 months of 2018 increased with about 20% relative to 12 property sales achieved during 2017. 12 Registrations took place in the period between January to August 2018 - consisting of 9 freehold properties (houses) and 3 vacant land sales. This relays to about 1,2 properties sold on average per month or 14,4 properties on an annual basis.

Between 2008 and 2017, an average of 1,4 properties per month or 17,3 properties per year sold in the Westridge suburb. There has been quite a drop sales volume since 2015 when total sales were 29 properties for the year (about 2,4 per month).

There have been 12 property sales up to August 2018 - which is on very similar sale volume levels as 2009/10, the last time the property market experienced a drop in demand.  These figures confirms the stress levels which are at present experienced in the price ranges above R2,5 million in the Somerset West property market.

In the 12 months Nov 2017 to Oct 2018, 11 homes sold in Westridge at an average price of R2 521 000 (average R1 625 / sq.m). The lowest and highest prices achieved in Westridge were respectively R2,3 mil (15 Arum Ave) and R3,1 mil (12 Nerina Ave).

Capital Growth

Median prices achieved for Westridge houses has during the last 8 years grown from R1 240 000 (2010) to R2 450 000 (2018) - i.e. a growth of about 97,6% or about 12,2% per year.

The drop in sales volumes during 2018 has however also effected median prices achieved for houses (own title) - decreasing during 2018 from R2 595 000 (2017) to R2 450 000 (Oct 2018) and for erven (vacant land) from R1 850 000 to R1 750 000 - i.e. a drop of respectively 5,58% (own title) and 5,4% for vacant land. It is the first time since 2010 that Westridge has experienced a drop in median prices.

For more information about the available properties within Westridge, please contact one of our local specialist estate agents.