Midrand: A gem for homebuyers with 50 years of polish

As the new Waterfall City commercial hub continues its rapid development, Midrand is being described as the “new Sandton”, complete with the huge shopping centre, tower blocks and modern residential developments that began turning Sandown into the “richest square mile in Africa” back in the 1970s.

And with companies like PwC, SAGE, Accenture, Deloitte, Novartis, BMW, Dis-Chem, Cummins, Dimension Data, Vantage, Cisco and Cotton On located there, Waterfall has certainly established itself as a blue-chip business and logistics destination.

It also offers a wide variety of upscale residential options for the executives and employees of those companies, within a huge mixed-use development that also contains the Mall of Africa and several other shopping and entertainment venues, extensive green areas, a new hospital and a range of sports facilities.

However, notes Julie McDonald, principal of the Firzt Realty office in Midrand, it’s important to remember that Midrand as a whole has actually been under continuous development since a few high-profile companies took the brave step of establishing themselves there after the opening of the N1 highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria in the 1970s. These companies included pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, MSD and Janssen and they were followed over the next 20 years by others such as BMW, Glaxo-Wellcome, Siemens, Oracle, Q Data, Mustek, Honeywell, Panasonic, Nashua and Vodacom.

Indeed, by the late 1990s, Midrand had already become one of the fastest-growing areas in SA as more and more people and smaller companies began to appreciate the convenience of living there as well as the strategic advantages of locating a business in a central location that also offered high visibility, good infrastructure, excellent transport links and a farsighted town council that had opened up the area to the west of the highway to new development.

And this resulted, she says, in the development of thousands of new homes in the area, catering to the whole spectrum of income groups, as well as new retail centres, business parks, schools, medical facilities and hotels.  

It also prompted the creation of the Gallagher Convention Centre, which hosts numerous national and international events, the establishment of the Development Bank of SA’s permanent HQ, and a multimillion-Rand upgrade of Grand Central Airport to cater mostly to local business customers with private aircraft and helicopters. It also offers hangarage, chartered flights and aircraft maintenance

The Gautrain high-speed rail network, launched in 2010, also has a station in Midrand, making it even easier for residents to travel to Johannesburg, Pretoria and OR Tambo International Airport – or for people who live in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Centurion or the East Rand to travel to work in Midrand.

“And one only has to see the huge number of people using the train in the mornings and evenings to realise how important Midrand has become as a major residential node as well as a commercial hub,” says McDonald. “It’s obviously popular with people who want to live close to work in a local company, but also a great solution for families where one parent works in Pretoria and the other in Johannesburg, for example. In addition, it has become increasingly sought-after among affluent buyers as the types of residential development become more diverse.

“Initially, most new homes built here were sectional title apartments and townhouses, and Midrand area still attracts many young, first-time buyers because these are readily available at more reasonable prices than in other areas on the Gautrain route, such as Sandton and Rosebank in Johannesburg, or Hatfield in Pretoria.

“But over the years Midrand has also gained several country and lifestyle estates, including Kyalami Estates, Kyalami Glen, Blue Valley Golf Estate, Carlswald Estate, Carlswald North, Summerset Estate and the most recent additions including the Waterfall Country Estate, Waterfall Country Village and Waterfall Equestrian Estate as well as two mature lifestyle estates, Waterfall Valley and Waterfall Hills.

“On Midrand’s doorstep, there is also the Midstream group of estates, which was one of the top home sales areas in SA last year, with 567 homes sold for a total of R2,1b – and 745 homes sold in 2022 for a total of R2,6bn - according to Deeds Office records. This type of development definitely appeals to high-end buyers seeking to move from city suburbs to a gated estate, but also seeking not to increase their commute by moving too far away from their offices or the schools and shops their families need.”

A home in Midrand offers such buyers the best solution, she says, with easy access to top schools such as Reddam House in Waterfall, Reddford House in Blue Hills,

Beaulieu College, Curro Sagewood, Pinnacle College in Waterfall and the Summerhill schools – and to more than a dozen shopping centres now, with a dizzying array of retail, dining and entertainment options.

“However, we are finding that a large percentage of buyers at the moment are actually people who have lived here for some time and are relocating within Midrand

- usually from smaller homes to bigger ones - because they love the location and the lifestyle it offers them. The highest demand is around the R2,5m mark, and the most

popular homes are three-bedroom clusters.

“Full-title homes in the Vorna Valley area are also selling well, and developers are

banking on continued demand by snapping up groups of small plots of 1ha to 2,5ha

in Carlswald for new cluster home projects, despite a lack of new water supply in that

area. One we know of is even spending R15m to build a reservoir for a new

development – indicating confidence in the area that we share.

“In fact, we foresee that as interest rates continue to come down, there will be even stronger interest in Midrand, and that home prices will rise. So our advice to those who can afford to do so is to buy their home here without delay, whether it is their first apartment, a large family home, or a smaller retirement residence.”

 Issued by Firzt Realty

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About Firzt Realty 

Established in 2003, Firzt Realty initially focused on residential real estate, but has since expanded to offer a broad range of services in both the residential and commercial property sectors, including sales, rentals, auctions and property management.