Blouberg in Cape Town
Flying into Cape Town International Airport, looking out towards Robben Island you will see a massive area of urban activity.
What you are looking at is Blouberg or to be exact a tightly knit group of suburbs slowly margining into a single mini-metropolis.
The suburbs
At the heart of the Blouberg area on the West Coast of Cape Town are a handful of suburbs stretching from Sunset Beach in the South to Big Bay in the North.
The area has seen tremendous growth since around 2000 with the emergence of Parklands and Sunningdale Garden City. These have now attached themselves to Blouberg, West Beach, Flamingo Vlei and Table View.
Parklands itself has sprawled and now has what locals call Old Parklands with Parklands North and Parklands East being newly developed residential areas.
At the bottom end of Parklands, over a railway heading in the direction of Durbanville over the N7 Highway, is the township of Dunoon.
Transport
The Table View/Blouberg area is well established and further development is continuous.
This area is well-served by the MyCiti Bus into Cape Town and was the very first route to open around 2010 in time for the FIFA World Cup.
The MyCiti Bus Route runs extensively throughout all the suburbs into the city of Cape Town and further up into Atlantis.
Entertainment and Lifestyle
The area is well serviced with two major shopping centres including the recently opened Table Bay Mall. There are several smaller shopping zones that include Table View Mall with a large Pick n Pay and Sandown Retail Crossing with a Checkers Hyper. Bayside Mall is home to the local Ster Kinekor Cinema.
There is an abundance of social and lifestyle activities in the area. Two local cricket clubs, a rugby club, three local soccer clubs, a tennis club as well as recreational and pleasure activities along the well-known beach and beachfront.
A host of Gyms is in the area as well as local running and cycling clubs. There are many restaurants, bars and entertainment venues for people of all ages.
Schools
There are over a dozen primary and high schools in the area from government schools and some of the best private schools in South Africa. It is well known that more schools, especially government schools are required for the area.
Hospitals
The Netcare Blouberg Hospital is a major landmark in the area. This state of the art private medical facility serves the area with the Milnerton Mediclinic only a few kilometres away. There are many doctors surgeries from small family run practices to the large private practices. MediCross and Intercare offer specialist and general health care and dentistry.
A large local Church, View Church Table View, is in the process of opening a clinic in the area with the support of Stellenbosch University.
Properties
There is an assortment of property in the Blouberg area that ranges for affordable apartments to impressive beachfront or sea view properties.
Property prices vary considerably depending on the area, proximity to the ocean and proximity to high traffic routes. There is a constant supply of new properties that can be built from plan as well as many plots for purchase.
2 bedroom properties in area can be purchased from around R700,000 to R1,200,00.
2 Bedroom properties closer to the beach will cost upwards of R1,700,000. Small Two Bedroom homes in security or cluster complexes are in high demand at all times.
3 Bedroom Homes in the area can be purchased from just over R1,000,000 with prices escalating considerably depending on size or property, plot and location.
There are many up market properties as well as Golf Estate Properties in the area.
Many new properties for sale make sound investment properties or affordable family homes in the area.
Due to the popularity of the area and the many short-term holiday lets rental prices are a little above average for the Cape Town region.
A One bedroom apartment will cost anywhere from R5,500 to R8,000 per month.
Two bedrooms between R8,000 and R16,000
Three bedrooms anywhere from R10,000 upwards.
Rental properties are snapped up fast.
In a nutshell
Blouberg is a popular and very safe area to live, work and play. There are a number of emerging business parks in the area. Many companies moving to the region with one of the largest being Cipla Medical now in the Rivergate Industrial Zone. This is located between Parklands and Dunoon.