The suburb consists of mostly older homes, many of which have been renovated, that offer more space for a better price in comparison to suburbs within the southern suburbs.

Despite its ‘below the line’ status, with the majority of homes in the area located below the railway line, Plumstead is attracting all types of buyers, including young professionals.  Free-standing properties in the area are priced from R900 000 up to R1.9 million, while apartments are priced from R600 000 to R1.2 million.

“Buyers looking to spend R2 million or more will usually go elsewhere,” says Robert Malcomess, Property Consultant for Jawitz Properties. “However, Plumstead has certainly become a more affordable southern suburbs option, and therefore a desirable location for many buyers, including those who may not have previously considered the area.”

In addition to its affordability, Plumstead offers close proximity to places of worship, schools, parks, shopping centres, hospitals, old age facilities, and easy access to the M3 and M5 highways, as well as to public transport including four train stations.

“Affordability has become very important and buyers are searching for value,” says Francois Venter, Director at Jawitz Properties. “As a result, they’re prepared to search as far afield as 20 kilometres away from where they would like to live, whereas in years gone by they would search no further than 1 kilometre from their chosen location.”

For 2012 to date, 133 sales have been concluded in the area, with the average price for a free – standing home at just over R1.3 million, and the average price for an apartment at R760 000.

The average time a property is on the market in Plumstead totals at between 41-62 days, considerably less than the average of 118 days in the entire southern suburbs region.

There is a strong demand for both free-standing homes and apartments in the area, but much like the rest of the Cape property market at the moment, Plumstead is, however, seeing a shortage of stock.

“Accordingly, we anticipate property values in Plumstead to increase by 5% in 2013, with the volume of sales to remain much the same as this year. If there were more properties available, we would definitely see more keen buyers moving in to the area, as the appeal and demand are much stronger than the availability at present,” Venter concludes.