Lets Talk Westville

Tyson Properties Puts Down Roots in Westville

More and more property buyers are uncovering Durban’s best kept secret – the leafy suburb of Westville.

According to Lee Ellis, inland director, of Tyson Properties, estate agents operating within Westville and surrounding areas are going from strength to strength. “Tyson Properties Westville has been selling homes in the greater Westville and Cowies Hill area for over five years. During this period, we have been fortunate enough to have grown substantially. During the past year, we have sold 175 properties. During the month of December 2012 alone, we broke all our previous records and achieved the greatest number of sales in rand value.”

He attributes this ongoing success to the fact that Westville ticks each of the five boxes that prospective buyers should seriously consider when investing in properties for the long term:

Location: Westville and its environs are close enough to Durban to be convenient and far enough away to allow residents to enjoy the more country like feel of the Upper Highway area and enjoy beautiful green areas such as the Palmiet Nature Reserve. “The local weather in Westville and Cowies Hill is ideal in that the days in summer are often hot but the humidity is somewhat lower than in central Durban,” he says.

Accessibility: For commuters, Westville is particularly well positioned within a network of highways such as the M13, M19 and N3 making the city centre as well as major nodes to both the north and south easily accessible. Westville is just 15 minutes from the Durban CBD and about 30 minutes from King Shaka International Airport. It does not fall foul of traffic congestion along the Fields Hill route that is often a problem for others in the Upper Highway area or the log jams experienced on the major north coast routes.

Amenities:  According to Ellis, Westville is home to some of Durban’s best government schools with parents often choosing a home that will suit their children for the duration of the school careers – from primary through to high school and even university thanks to proximity of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Westville campus. Good medical facilities are close at hand in both Westville and Pinetown and there is plenty of good shopping at the Pavilion, Westville Shopping Mall, Village Mall and Westwood Shopping Centre. At least two more major commercial developments are underway and big brands such as Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths and Spar are increasing their retail footprints in the area.

Quality of life: The best way to measure the quality of life in an area is by how long people stay, Ellis points out. The suburb of Cowies Hill, where most properties are freehold and new residential developments are few and far between, is a good example. “Here, people buy to stay. Interestingly enough, nearly fifty percent of sellers in Cowies Hill over the past year owned their properties for more than 10 years. Approximately seventy percent of the recent buyers in Cowies Hill were under the age of 50. Sixty percent of the existing owners in the suburb are over fifty years old. The total value of residential sales in the suburb in 2012 was similar to the total value of residential sales in 2006 before the economic downturn.”

Investment and resale: According to Ellis, Westville brings with it the value attached to an established and sought after area. “In Dawncliffe, for example, just over fifty percent of existing owners and recent sellers had owned their homes in excess of 10 years. It should be noted that over eighty percent of recent buyers were under the age of 50 years old. An interesting fact is that the average age of existing owners in Dawncliffe has reduced substantially of late as the homes in this suburb are more affordable and younger buyers with families are seeking good value for their hard earned money. The average price for a residential home in Dawncliffe is in the region of R1.5 million. The total value of homes sold in Dawncliffe in both 2011 and 2012 was higher than the period during the property boom a number of years back between 2004 and 2006.

Most importantly of all, Ellis points out, most of the agents at Tyson Properties Westville are local residents and experience the benefits of living in the area first hand.

“We are members of the local Westville Listing Service and often work closely with our fellow colleagues in our attempt to sell our clients’ homes. At Tyson Properties Westville, we always strive to give all our buyers and sellers a top notch service with the maximum advertising exposure in the local media and after sale service,” he says.

Ellis adds that Tyson Properties Westville is also committed to working to help local communities. “We believe in going the extra mile to assist worthwhile charitable projects in the Greater Westville area. We recently contributed towards a fundraising event to help raise monies for various local community projects held by the Westville Rotary Club. As a gesture of goodwill for our efforts, we won a Community Services Award. Our office has also recently begun to help a local crèche based in neighbouring Chesterville. We are currently establishing a vegetable garden to help supplement the children's meals with fresh nourishing vegetables, repairing the toilet facilities, installing fans and supplying jerseys for the coming winter months,” he says.