Boschendal Home Sold for R23.5 million

December 9 - There was some auction action this weekend when the IFA/JCI owned Boschendal Estate was put on the market. Five properties were offered in the auction and three of them were sold for impressive amounts, raising a total of R43 million.

The first sale in the auction went to a South African businessman who had his eye on the historic De Goode Hoop homestead, the key feature of the Boschendal Estate. The businessman won the auction when offering a price of R23.5 million.

When asked what his plans for the property are, the businessman said that he would renovate the homestead and relocate into the house. The house was first occupied in 1821 and is one of the sixteen 'heritage founder estates' of the Boschendal project. The homestead also comes with 21 hectors of land.

The two other sales in the auction were for undeveloped strips of land. Both pieces of land are 21 hectors and were sold for R10 million and R9.5 million respectively. The zoning limitations for these pieces of land mean that the buyers will only be allowed to build private residences to be used as their own homes.

According to Pam Golding Real Estate, the entire estate is worth about R1.2 billion, however not all of it is being sold, so this amount is not what is going to be raised. Actually, only 10% of the estate is being auctioned off, while 90% of the land is going to be maintained as a working farm.

The sales of these properties are providing a cash boost for the land owners, which are JSE-listed companies. IFA is currently under Nedbank's radar after it took out a R200 million loan and it is believed that these sales should help lower Nedbank's concerns.

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12/9/2009 8:49:05 AM