Nettleton Road on Cape Town’s platinum strip is the most sought-after address among oil-rich Saudi billionaires and Hollywood celebrities scouting to rent homes during the 2010 Soccer World Cup – one paid R7.5m for a month to rent a villa.
The Sunday Times reported that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, US billionaire Stan Kroenke and Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan were among a host of the world’s super rich attending the soccer extravaganza.
With just seven months before kick-off, the army of personal assistants has been scurrying around the country commissioning estate agents to scout for sea-facing villas, golfing estates, high-security mansions and luxury apartments.
Several estate agents said the most sought-after addresses included Nettleton Road in Clifton, Klaasens Road in Constantia and Exeter Avenue in Bishops Court.
Ronnie Matthews Estates claims to have rented out a Clifton villa on the road to “an undisclosed international celebrity” for $1-million a month, or about R250,000 a day.
Topping the list in Gauteng is Coronation Road in Johannesburg’s Sandhurst; and Victoria, Lawley, Aries and Canopus streets in Waterkloof, Pretoria.
Several enquiries have been made for homes in Dainfern, a golfing estate north of Johannesburg.
Ian Slot said his international clients were demanding exceptional homes in the region of about R100,000 a day.
One US celebrity and her family have secured a home in Bedfordview, near OR Tambo International Airport, for R45,000 a day.
It’s believed the home is either in Allen Grove or Pamin Road, two of the most plush addresses in the suburb, east of Johannesburg.
But Nettleton Road still tops the list with estate agents desperately trying to secure homes for their clients.
Basil Moraitis, said: “Its elevated position affords the homes panoramic views of the Atlantic Seaboard and provides the backdrop for a cosmopolitan lifestyle worthy of the French Riviera.”
“We regularly see properties here on the market from R45-million up to R100-million. It is hugely popular with our international market, who want a luxury home that allows them to enjoy the Clifton beaches … like South Africa’s own little St Tropez.”
Last month the Sunday Times reported that Hollywood producer Mike Jefferies’s four-storey villa next door, where Nicolas Cage stayed while filming the movie Lord of War in Cape Town, is on the market for R80-million. Jefferies bought the five-bedroom 1248m² villa for about R42-million in December 2006.
On Saturday, two estate agents said homes in the street, if rented out for the World Cup, could fetch R60,000 to R125,000 a day.
Average daily rentals on the Atlantic coastline range between R6000 and R25,000, but one rental agency has a home on the market for R4.2-million a month for the duration of the soccer tournament.
