Cape Town to get new suburbs, densified city centre

Cape Town is one of the fastest-growing and most in-demand cities in South Africa, yet its CBD and inner suburbs are chock-a-block, so where are the new neighbourhoods likely to be?

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit spoke to Nathan Scott, a property analyst and founder of The Real Estate Route, about recent developments on the city’s outskirts.

Scott highlighted the N7, the West Coast corridor and the N1.

"We have got a little bit of a housing crisis at the moment with very little space, so we are tracking the infrastructure that is happening on the outskirts of Cape Town to see exactly where the next suburbs are going to be.

"It's very interesting to see the West Coast getting its first little bit of infrastructure put together with the Vissershok Interchange, which is quite a big project that they put together. They've already started with a 36-month project, worth R780-million, I believe.

And that's going to connect the new farmlands which they're building up on that side.

"And then there's also the N1. We're all familiar with the Huguenot Tunnel being upgraded. It's going to be put into a double, duel carriage lane that is also a five-year upgrade, and R4.5-billion is being put into that."

Scott says we're already starting to see residential developments that are forming out in the Paarl area as you come through the Huguenot Tunnel.

"In the Durbanville area, there are two wine farms that are possibly for sale, which they are going to be hopefully getting some residential housing. I know that they are sitting with environmental approvals that will be released in November 2026. And we see up on the West Coast, there's talk of a new city called Milkwood City. That's also residential, possibly 1,200 houses and a couple of schools and a university, so we are seeing growth there.

"And with the Cape Winelands as well, there are industrial nodes that are going to be building up there. Where there's work, people need housing."

Scott said he doesn't think the Democratic Alliance, which is running the City of Cape Town, put enough thought into infrastructure. "They didn't expect the massive amount of semi-gration that we are seeing at the moment that is coming to Cape Town. I think it was just a bit too quick to keep up".

Increasingly, people want to live in or near the city centre, highlighting the need for densification.

"We do like our space. Our driveways, our gardens, but anything in the CDB would be apartment living, a little bit smaller, and skyscrapers and that possibly could be the way we are looking to go."