In 2016, this property in Sea Point was sold by the Western Cape Government to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million. This sale has now been overturned by the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court's recent ruling that the sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point was unlawful, ordering the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government to report on how they plan to meet their constitutional obligations around affordable housing in and around the CBD.
The ruling lands as new data shows the scale of the affordability gap facing the region. The Western Cape's average property price in the first quarter of 2026 was R3,357,917, according to Cape Town property strategist Nathan Scott, 72% above the national average of R1,951,230. To qualify for a bond on a standard R2.5 million three-bedroom home in Bellville, Durbanville or the Winelands corridor, Scott said, a household needs a net income of roughly R55,000 to R60,000 a month.
Gauteng now accounts for 50.8% of all property transfers nationally, Scott said.
Finella Botes, high-value property consultant at Seeff Atlantic Seaboard, said the Tafelberg judgment reaches beyond the single property. "Well-located land has become one of Cape Town's most valuable and most debated assets," she said, adding she does not expect it to shift the luxury market immediately but predicts it will bring closer scrutiny to how strategically located land is developed in future.
