The coastal property boom along the Garden Route is showing no signs of slowing, with Plettenberg Bay emerging as a standout market. According to Alet Ollemans of Seeff Property Group’s Plettenberg Bay office, the area recorded the highest-priced sale of 2025 — a luxury villa on Beachy Head that achieved R36m.
Source: Supplied. Lookout Beach – R65m for this spectacular 650m² ocean-view villa built over three levels with seven en-suite bedrooms shared between all three floors, five of which have an ocean view and open onto a deck or balcony. This is one of the top listings in the country.
The transaction underscores the town’s growing appeal to high-end buyers and investors, with property values ranking among the highest nationally outside the Cape Town metro areas.
Driven by factors such as sustained lifestyle migration, retirement, remote working, and holiday home investments, the market has surged over the last five years with 2025 again improving on the previous year. A total of 682 property transactions were recorded, worth over R2.8bn. This is the highest in volume and value since the 2021/2 boom period, up by about 33% (volume) and 27% (value) respectively, says Ollemans.
The overall average transaction price increased by about 9.3% to R4.7m, driven by a higher volume of sales over the R5m. There were also a notable number of sales over R10m and R20m including the highest sale on Beachy Head Drive of R36m (concluded by Seeff as noted above).
Alet says estates have seen tremendous growth in recent years and represent the highest volume of high value transactions for 2025 at about 39% of all transfers, followed by freehold properties at 38% and sectional titles at 23%.
Freehold estate properties transacted at R5.2m on average, and sectional titles in estates at R3.2m. Freehold properties outside of estates averaged at R5.9m (R9.1m for high-end properties), slightly higher than estates, due to high value sales over R15m pushing up the average, she says. Sectional-title property transacted at around R3.1m on average.
Source: Supplied.
Luxury segment expansion
While the most active price band remains between R2m and R4m, there has been a significant shift towards the luxury segment in recent years, especially in the estates and for waterfront properties. She notes that transactions over R5m increased to just over 20% of the market, predominantly within the estates. Transactions over R10m make up about 7% of all transactions for the year.
She adds that Plettenberg Bay is now the top luxury destination on the Garden Route for property buyers and investors. The investment case is further supported by the excellent price-growth performance with median property prices doubling over the past decade, and up by a significant 38% over 2024 driven by higher-value sales.
Property in Plett has proven to be a rewarding investment, offering consistent opportunities for property buyers and investors looking for long-term value in a world-class destination, she says.
It has been another bumper summer tourism season with the short-term rentals market booming. With the lower interest rate and generally more positive outlook for the market, she expects the market to continue seeing strong demand amidst the general migration to lifestyle areas.
