Mpumalanga Real Estate Overview
World-renowned for its Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga is home to rich coal stores, magnificent scenery and a thriving agricultural industry as well as abundant wildlife, and because of its moderate climate is a favourite getaway destination for the jaded city slickers of
Gauteng.
Bordering Mozambique, Swaziland and
Kwazulu-Natal to the south the province has around 3,5m residents and is the fourth biggest contributor to SA’s GDP. The substantial agricultural sector includes dairy, tropical fruit and sugar farmers, and forestry, lumber milling and paper pulping occur on a large scale. Property and many of the larger towns in Mpumalamga, however, have grown up around gold deposits and coal mines and their associated power plants.
These towns include Barberton,
Witbank,
Middelburg, Lydenburg, Groblersdal, White River and Sabie, most of which enjoy year-round demand for rental properties and strong housing demand when the mines are in full production. The Carolina-Bethal-Ermelo area remains predominantly a sheep-farming node and Nelspruit - the capital city - is the second-largest citrus producing area in SA.
Earmarked as a 2010 host city,
Nelspruit is also getting a facelift in anticipation of the Soccer World Cup. The construction of the new Mbombela Stadium on the city’s periphery and its associated general infrastructure upgrade will not only improve the city’s tourist appeal but create major impetus for the area in general, with significant spinoffs for the local property market.
Nelspruit and the nearby centre of
White River boast a wide range of properties to suit all pockets, from apartments and small sectional title townhouses, through suburban family houses with large gardens and pools, to luxury mansions on estates featuring some of the country’s top golf courses. Wildlife and eco-estates are also a feature of the province, with many foreign buyers paying top-dollar here for their own safari destination property.
