Bramley Is Ideal for New Generation

Bramley is one of the older “family” suburbs in Johannesburg’s north-east quarter that is steadily being renewed and upgraded as a new generation of homeowners move in.
 
The main attractions for these new residents, says Chas Everitt International area specialist Phineas Likotla, are the area’s proximity to offices in Sandton CBD and around Melrose Arch, its ease of access via the M1 freeway and its large homes and gardens.
 
“Bramley has now reached the stage where a lot of the original owners are empty-nesters,” he says, “and are ready to downscale from these big homes to smaller properties that require less maintenance. And they are finding eager buyers among young families looking for roomy homes that are centrally located and still within their budgets,” he says.
  
This trend is confirmed by the latest figures from property data company Lightstone, which show that most sellers in Bramley in the past year have been long-term residents of the area aged 50 or older, while almost half the recent buyers have been under-35.
 
Other attractions for families are the fact that Bramley is close to both the Norwood Mall and Balfour Park shopping centres, and surrounded by good schools such as Norwood Primary, St Mary's, Waverley Girls High, King Edward VII and KEPS. It also has the Bagleyston centre housing doctors, dentists and other health professionals, and its own animal hospital.
 
And in return for this convenience, Likotla says, many of the new buyers in the area are happy to take on older homes and modernise them, with the result that much of the existing housing stock is now being upgraded. 
 
He says freehold homes in the area generally sell at prices from around R1,5m to R2,6m, and sectional title townhouses at prices from R700 000 to about R1m.