How green is your home
There is a growing demand for properties with green features. According to Pam Golding Properties, the drought we recently experienced, reintroduction of load shedding by Eskom, and rapidly increasing costs of electricity and water have made green homes increasingly appealing to home buyers.
“Nowhere is this trend towards homes with alternative, more efficient sources of energy and water more evident than in the Western Cape, where the recent prolonged drought has made water conservation a key imperative both now and into the future,” says Anthony Stroebel, Pam Golding Properties head of real estate services and a director of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).
He says it’s become relatively common to see lawns replaced with indigenous shrubbery and succulent gardens, as well as artificial grass, “not to mention a proliferation of water storage tanks and rooftop solar panels,” in Cape Town.
The Western Cape Government together with the City of Cape Town and GreenCape, has introduced a Green Home Assessment tool which is a voluntary tool which can be used for all residential units. “The feedback was incredibly positive, with buyers and sellers finding it a useful tool as this province becomes increasingly resource-efficient,” Stroebel said.
