97 apartments in 4 hours: Buyers snap up new hotel development in popular South African coastal town

The launch of international hotel giant Radisson’s brand-new serviced apartments in Umhlanga drew major interest, with 97 sectional-title apartments sold within three hours of their online launch.

Radisson Serviced Apartments Umhlanga is the first Radisson-branded serviced-apartment development of its kind in South Africa.

The development uses a sectional-title ownership model, allowing individual investors to own apartments within a professionally managed hospitality development.

This gives investors access to a property ownership model linked to the operations of an international hotel brand.

The development’s online launch took place on Saturday, 15 August 2026. Initially, 40 apartments were released through the Markt platform. All 40 were sold within four and a half minutes.

Rainmaker Marketing’s Director, Stefan Botha, said the development had already attracted strong interest before the launch, including a record attendance at its pre-launch webinar.

“While we expected a really positive launch response, it was still remarkable for the entire first phase to be sold out within a record 4.5 minutes,” he said.

While the sale of the initial 40 apartments was already impressive in such a short time, what followed was even more significant.

As buyers continued to engage with the Markt platform, the sales team released another 57 apartments in smaller groups throughout the morning. This brought the total number of apartments sold to 97 by midday.

The developer of the project, Avoca’s Chris Horn, said the response was unlike anything he had experienced during his more than three decades in the property industry.

“In my over three decades in the property industry, I have never experienced anything like this, and the response we saw on Saturday exceeded every expectation.”

“The outcome represents a powerful vote of confidence in Umhlanga, the Radisson brand, and the sectional-title serviced-apartment investment model”.

The rise of serviced apartments

The launch was KwaZulu-Natal’s first fully online property development launch.

Botha said the development sold nearly two and a half times as many apartments as initially planned for the launch.

“The result of Saturday means Radisson Serviced Apartments Umhlanga sold nearly two and a half times the number of apartments originally intended for the launch,” he said.

“This was a true example of the power of the collaboration between our marketing, lead admin and sales teams through Markt as the conversion platform and campaign intelligence layer.”

The 97 sales within three hours also point to demand for serviced apartments in Umhlanga and continued interest in the KwaZulu-Natal property market.

With the launch-day inventory now sold, another 40 apartments will be released through Markt on Thursday, 27 August 2026.

Prices will start from R1.89 million, giving buyers who missed the first launch another opportunity to purchase an apartment.

Photos of Radisson Serviced Apartments Umhlanga