The small coastal town in a top South African municipality which became the playground for the rich and famous

St Francis Bay, a small seaside town in the Eastern Cape, has become a millionaire hotspot with top-end house prices exceeding R20 million.

It has become so popular among wealthy South Africans that it has achieved one of the highest sales figures in the luxury market.

This means that St Francis Bay outperforms many of the traditional coastal hotspots in the Western Cape.

St Francis Bay’s history dates back to 1488 when Bartolomeu Dias named the bay Golfo dos Pastores. However, it did not keep this name.

In 1575, the Portuguese navigator and cartographer Manuel Perestrelo renamed it Bahia de São Francisco, which later became St. Francis Bay.

It became a popular fishing village, but was transformed after Leighton Hulett bought land and developed its famous man-made canal system.

He had a vision of a marina and a unique holiday village, and established strict building codes that remain legendary in South African urban planning.

All homes in the original village and canal area were required to have white walls and black roofs, which gave the town a unique and attractive look.

St Francis Bay gained international fame in the mid-1960s through Bruce Brown’s iconic surf documentary, The Endless Summer.

The film showcased a perfect wave found at a point in the bay, which was subsequently named Bruce’s Beauties.

Today, St Francis Bay is a popular holiday and retirement town, referred to as the “Jewel of the Eastern Cape” by residents.

Its extensive man-made canal system remains a primary drawcard for many wealthy people who retire there.

Most homes on the canals have private moorings, and it is common to see residents travelling to restaurants or visiting neighbours by boat.

It is also a vital centre for South Africa’s Chokka (squid). It has a privately owned working harbour that hosts a commercial chokka fleet alongside luxury yachts.

Playground for the rich and famous

St Francis Bay was transformed from a fisherman’s village to one of the most sought-after locations in South Africa. This significantly increased house prices.

A beachfront plot sold for R1,500 in the 1950s. Today, there are many houses which sell for over R20 million.

There are no signs of this changing. A major long-term coastal restoration project reversing beach erosion is expected to further increase property values.

Pam Golding Properties St Francis Bay area principal Richard Arderne provided further details about the restoration project.

He said that it includes the construction of four rock groynes and a large-scale sand replenishment programme.

The project was designed to rebuild and stabilise the area’s beaches after years of erosion and storm damage.

Arderne explained that the local residential property market remains buoyant, with demand further boosted by the beach restoration project.

Currently, there are virtually no homes available for sale on the Canals, while stock levels in Cape St Francis are also extremely limited.

“Of the approximately 500 plots on the Canals, only about 20 to 30 are vacant, and virtually none are currently on the market,” he said.

“As a result, buyers are tending to acquire older homes for around R10 million, and then investing a further R5 million to R10 million on major renovations.”

According to Arderne, vacant land has been the area’s standout performer in terms of price appreciation.

“Entry-level plots have risen fourfold from around R200,000 to approximately R800,000 since Covid, both on the Links and in Santareme,” he said.

“One of the key drivers of this growth has been The Links, where a building boom has transformed the estate in recent years.”

Of the approximately 550 plots in the development, more than 300 homes have already been completed.

Vacant plots in The Links currently sell for between R1 million and R6 million, while completed homes range from R4.5 million to over R20 million.

The retirement village in the Canal area has been another success over the last two years, with approximately 100 units sold and construction almost complete.

Prices range from around R3 million to approximately R7 million, for options including apartments and freestanding houses.

The best-run municipality in the Eastern Cape

St Francis Bay falls within the Kouga Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, which was named the best in the province.

It achieved an impressive score of 82.5 out of 100 in the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Local Government Report Card 2026.

Apart from being the highest-ranked in the Eastern Cape, it ranked sixth among the 50 municipalities assessed in this study across South Africa.

Kouga was commended for its strong electricity supply, refuse collection, roads and water access.

It received a second consecutive clean audit, has funded budgets, a good collection rate, and disciplined creditor payments.

The municipality has stable senior leadership and functional oversight structures that convert plans into results.

Last year, Kouga was also honoured at the 2025 Municipal Performance Awards for its excellence in financial management, stability, and service delivery.

The Kouga Local Municipality has recently invested R24 million in a battery energy storage system to reduce its reliance on Eskom.

The new battery system was built in St Francis Bay and is the first municipal-scale installation of its kind in Kouga.

Electricity procured from Eskom during lower-cost periods will be stored in the system and then supplied when both energy demand and Eskom tariffs are high.

This will help the municipality to manage its bulk electricity purchases more efficiently and reduce costly penalties incurred when the town exceeds its allocated electricity.

---

St Francis Bay photos

---