South Africa

The South African city where properties sell in under two minutes

Kirsten Minnaar • 19 September 2025

Cape Town’s property market is so overheated that homes sell within minutes, sometimes even before listing, driven by record demand, scarce supply, and buyers willing to pay premium prices.

South Africa’s most popular property market, Cape Town, is experiencing exceptionally high demand, with foreigners, semigrants and investors snapping up properties as soon as they hit the market.

Interest is spread throughout the city. For example, Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, which includes the City Bowl and areas from Foreshore to Camps Bay, is highly sought after.

Pam Golding reported record-breaking residential property sales in June 2025, bringing their sales turnover to R240 million for the month.

This figure is more than double Pam Golding’s previous June high, defying the trend of quieter sales typically accompanying Cape Town’s cold and wet winter months.

Pam Golding Properties area manager Basil Moraitis said the sheer scale of demand for property in the area and an all-time low supply have significantly heightened sales activity on the Atlantic Seaboard.

“The entire Atlantic Seaboard has benefited from the current market conditions, with the City Bowl area being an outperformer for the month,” Moraitis said. “Buyers have needed to act very quickly to avoid missing out.”

Many sought-after properties are not even being publicly listed but are marketed directly to the agent’s network of purchasers and investors.

This demand boom has also been seen in areas like Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, which includes areas like Rondebosch, Claremont, Newlands, and Constantia.

Seeff Southern Suburbs licensee James Lewis said demand is currently unprecedented, and low stock levels offer sellers incredible opportunities to achieve top prices.

In Constantia, Seeff recently sold a home for the full R9.5 million asking price within just one day of listing, 10% higher than a comparable sale just months earlier.

According to Sharyn Dabbs from Seeff, neighbouring Bergvliet is also seeing record demand, with properties selling so fast that there is now a waiting list.

Here, homes are typically snapped up within a day to a month of listing and sellers are achieving prices within just 5% of their asking, and often for the full price.

Entire apartment building sells out in minutes

In Rondebosch, sales have also reached record levels, with demand far exceeding supply. Properties are selling rapidly, often within a week, and more than half achieve, or nearly reach, their asking prices.

Seeff’s Charmaine Scott-Wilson has sold 14 homes already in 2025. While the average house price is around R7 million, buyers waiting for new listings are now willing to pay up to R25 million.

In Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory, transactions over the last year have been on par, and still higher in the case of Woodstock compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Propstats data revealed that almost half of all properties in these areas sold within a month, and some within a week or a day of listing.

According to Seeff’s Belinda Keys, houses in Claremont are also selling fast and achieving top prices. The demand is so high that properties are even selling before being listed, or within a day or a week.

This was also the case with a new development in Upper Claremont, The Huxley. When the sectional title launched on 28 August, every apartment sold within just two minutes.

The Huxley is a boutique collection of just 18 apartments – studio, one, and two bedrooms. Prices range from under two million to over R5 million.

The project is expected to finish construction in the second quarter of 2027, and projected monthly long-term rentals are estimated to range from R14,000 to R37,000.