Gauteng's super-wealthy opting for hybrid lifestyle, splitting their time between primary Joburg residence and 2nd home at the coast

There's a lot of debate about whether the semigration trend of Joburgers moving to Cape Town is slowing down as costs in the Mother City keep rising.

A new report from Pam Golding Properties highlights a shift emerging among ultra-high-net-worth investors in Gauteng, where they actually hang on to their Johannesburg properties as they buy secondary homes in various prime lifestyle destinations across South Africa.

These affluent buyers are embracing a hybrid lifestyle, the property group says, splitting their time between two homes in very different locations.

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A Pam Golding exec himself illustrates how he models this hybrid approach, commuting bi-weekly to his Cape Town home while remaining rooted in Johannesburg for work.

This mirrors what Mariël Burger, regional head for Gauteng Metro, says is the increasingly fluid lifestyles of his clients and colleagues, accelerated by easy airport access.

“Johannesburg remains the irreplaceable business and family hub for the bulk of these high-net-worth individuals, even those with Cape Town retreats or KZN North Coast getaways... or Plett and Knysna on the Garden Route."

“Often investing R20-R40 million and upwards as primary luxury Gauteng residences, and in Cape Town - easily from R60 million and above, they rarely relinquish their secure, school-proximate Johannesburg bases, particularly in established upmarket areas such as Melrose or Athol..."

Interviewing Pam Golding CEO Andrew Golding, Stephen Grootes asks whether hanging on to a big house in Joburg is partly because people still don't think they'll get a good price in that property market.

While that has been the case for a long time, there's a huge shift happening now, says Golding.

"We're starting to see the beginning of a trend where those large properties are naturally available to be redeveloped and where buyers are seeing value there as the market starts to move. For a long time, the top end of the Joburg markt was around R20 million, but that is starting to move."

"Discerning buyers are picking up on this... and seeing a lot of upside in terms of where that market's still got to go to catch up with, for example, some of the CapeTown prices."

When it comes to Cape Town, Golding doesn't foresee any slowdown in the momentum of the property market there.

"The Cape Town market continues to be strong, fuelled I think by what's happening globally, and particularly from a South African perspective... we are now a desirable destination - and Cape Town and the Western Cape coast and the Garden Route in particular."

Scroll up to the audio player to hear more from the Pam Golding Properties CEO