Cape Town - The more the world grows, the smaller it becomes, with technology and air travel reducing thousands of kilometres and days between people to a few centimetres via a screen and just hours in a plane.
People’s lifestyles are also evolving as time remains a constant balancing act, work pressures and demands increase and people strive for success and achievement.
These advancements have given rise to many changes in the way the world operates, one of which is the “super-commuting” trend. A “super-commuter” is a person who travels more than 150km or 90 minutes one way each day to and from their place of work or one who works in one metropolitan area, but lives in another.
Distances are usually covered by a trend that has been noted in America and Europe for the past few years. A 2012 study conducted by the New York University’s Rudin Centre for Transportation Policy and Management found there were 59 000 super-commuters in Manhattan and super-commuting was on the rise in eight out of 10 of the major metropolitan areas in the US. In 2006, British travel company Thomson predicted that by this year, 2016, 1.5 million people who worked in Britain would live abroad.
In South Africa, the trend is also evident. Jonathan Acutt, managing director of Acutts Real Estate, said he knew many who had chosen the lifestyle on offer in Durban, Hillcrest, Ballito and other coastal areas, but worked throughout South Africa. They get up on a Monday morning and board a plane to work in Joburg, Cape Town, Eastern Cape, or even other countries in Africa, he said.
“In some cases, it may be a tough economy forcing people into situations where they need to work a distance from home or, in others, it is a choice. Business people like to have their lifestyle and family in one place, even if they have to work away from home for four days out of the week. They work long hours, from 6am or 7am, to 8pm, 9pm, or 10pm each day, and then go back home for a three-day weekend. It is the case with many executives and we are seeing it more among men than women.”
In addition to the lifestyle on offer in these KZN areas, Acutt said there was also the familiarity of family and friends, as well as good schools.
Carol Reynolds, Pam Golding Properties area principal for Durban Coastal, echoed Acutt’s comments, saying that agents were seeing “more and more” Joburg commuters choosing to live in Durban North, La Lucia, Umhlanga and Ballito, so that their children could enjoy a healthy beach and outdoors lifestyle.
“They generally prefer gated estates, because of their travelling. They seek security, good schools and proximity to the airport. This is why Umhlanga and Ballito are popular.
“It is a lifestyle choice – there is no better climate than that of KZN, the schools in the province are excellent, and there is little traffic congestion. You simply cannot compare the lifestyle offering in KZN with that of Johannesburg. Children grow up living at the beach, and it is a healthy outdoors way of life that is far more appealing than a highly-urbanised city lifestyle,” she said.
But this trend is not just being seen in KZN with Pam Golding Properties’ estate agents throughout the country also seeing the growth of super-commuting. Richard Arderne, Pam Golding Properties area principal in St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, said a high percentage of businessmen in St Francis Bay worked elsewhere, travelling either for a day or two, Monday to Friday, or maybe longer.
“We have many pilots, oil rig workers, yachtsmen, and many businessmen that love the St Francis lifestyle and the fact their families are in a safe and healthy environment. They are only an hour from Port Elizabeth Airport.”
Basil Moraitis, area manager for Pam Golding Properties in Cape Town’s City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard, said there was no doubt that the economic heartland of South Africa continued to be Gauteng and that “our captains of industry” needed to spend significant time there. However, from a lifestyle perspective, it was clear that more and more were choosing to relocate families to the Atlantic Seaboard and commute to Joburg for four days of the week.
“In the past, this sort of super-commuting was reserved for the ultra rich, but the trend in the past 18 months has seen this lifestyle option extend to include many more affluent South Africans.
“The security of the Atlantic Seaboard, coupled with the lifestyle offered, is a major drawcard.
“The micro climate, protection from the prevailing south-easterly winds in summer and spectacular late sunsets, are just some of the lifestyle offerings which draw super-commuters to this stretch of coastline.”
It seems the super-commuting trend is not limited to areas with beaches and coastal lifestyles. Annien Borg, MD for Pam Golding Properties in the Boland and Overberg regions, said although agents had seen an increase in people commuting between areas in the Cape and Joburg, they had also observed a trend where families from inland farming communities, such as those in the Karoo, acquired properties in towns like Paarl where there were good schools.
“The wife stays with the children during the week and they go home every weekend.
“This is also due to increase in demand for good schools in this region, coupled with the fact the schools cannot cater for all applications for student accommodation in hostels.”
She said secure estates or properties in “low-crime areas” were popular among buyers who commuted, as were low-maintenance or newly-built homes.
Bonny Fourie, Independent HOME