There has been a tremendous move with people from Johannesburg and Durban moving into the Western Cape in recent years.  In fact, the move has been so dramatic that high-end properties in Gauteng have for a number of years not really been going up, whereas in the Cape sales have been booming.  The Cape has its own problems including severe water shortages and the prices there are beginning to price people out of the market as well, but there is no doubt, if nothing else, that the Cape is the place where people with money ultimately retire.  All sorts of middle-class people are also being drawn to the Cape for a variety of reasons including the fact that it is a very well managed Province and Cape Town in particular as one of the best managed cities in South Africa.  That is apart from the natural beauty of the Cape.  I love the Cape and in fact all of my racehorses, apart from Master Sabina, are now based with my trainers in the Cape, the Snaith’s, and I love to find any excuse to go to Cape Town.  

A lot of the sales are in areas like Rondebosch, Claremont, Plumstead and Wineberg in the R2,5 million price range.  Finally, here is the price growth – the Western Cape prices have grown 53,7% over the last 5 years and Gauteng has grown 24,7%.  In other words, the Cape is growing twice as fast as Gauteng.  I think though, before this move becomes a stampede, it is going to require one or two big companies like Discovery for example to announce a head office or a big move of say 5,000 or 6,000 staff, etc and until then, the Cape is going to struggle with actually having the jobs to provide to all of the people that are trying to move there at the moment.  It doesn’t have the major companies and that’s what is missing from its future growth.