BIDLINE’s last property auction of the year attracted good bidding, but not all prices met expectation.

“The market is depressed and as a result some prices were not what we had hoped for. But there was a lot of bidding,” CEO James Dall said. “I don’t what bids will be accepted by the sellers, but about half the bids should be acceptable.”

The main attraction at the Inanda Club on Wednesday were three game lodges and a safari tented camp in Hluhluwe which fetched a top bid of R71,5m from an overseas buyer.

The lodges — part of the Zulu Nyala Group — are the Zulu Nyala Game Lodge, Zulu Nyala Nyati & Ndlovu Lodges and the Heritage Safari Lodge and tented safari camp. “There was a huge response to the lodges, but we expected a higher price,” Dall said.

Interestingly, a number of resort hotels and conference centres featured on the vendor’s roll.

Auctioneer Chico da Silva

An incomplete four-storey office block in Sunninghill attracted keen bidding. The structure with basement and four floors covers a total of 6577m². The property, with a “business four” zoning fetched R24,75m.

A modern warehouse and office building with a GLA of 1230m² in Kyalami Business Park received a top bid of R5,8m.

The land is subdivisible.

First of the resort hotels to come under the hammer was Elephant Springs in Bela Bela. The hotel with 45 rooms and four conference rooms fetched R17,5m. Avuxeni Resort Hotel in Modimolle which offers a 600 seat conference centre and 54 self-catering chalets on 150ha natural bushveld went for R6,25m. Also in Modimolle, the Protea Hotel Shangri La with 49 en suite hotel rooms and three conference centres attained a knockdown price of R10,5m.

A four-storey retail and office block with a penthouse in Boksburg, with a GLA of 2919m², fetched R2,7m, and three residential blocks off Church Street in Pretoria, R24m.

In City & Suburban a four-storey building was offered with vacant occupation. The building, suitable for light industries and/or commercial purposes, has a 1,5-ton goods lift. It fetched R2,5m.

Bidding was brisk for 32ha of development land in Kempton Park. The land, bordering on CR Swart Road, has been earmarked for commercial and “residential two” zoning. It fetched R3,5m.

An office complex on Gallagher Street in Midrand with GLA of 2311m² was sold with and without lease, and received bids of R12m and R10,5m respectively.