Hout Bay Area Information

Hout Bay at a glance

Hout Bay (derived from the Afrikaans Houtbaai, meaning “wood bay”) is now classified as a town, it’s no longer the sleepy fishing village of yesteryear. 

Since the early 15th Century Hout Bay has retained close links with the City of Cape Town, and in the early days this village used to be the main link with Cape Town’s boat repairmen who brought ships into the bay to repair and then took them back out again once done. After the timber supplies diminished in Hout Bay these men turned to fishing to make a living and the fishing industry was created.  

Today people (including residents from Constantia) commute along the beach road to the CBD, often choosing this route instead of the M3 highway because of its beauty and it being less congested with hardly any stops en route, and often only takes 30 minutes to get to town. 

Hout Bay is divided into several suburbs: Scott Estate, Hanging Meadows, Baviaanskloof, Hillcrest, Bergendal, Penzance, Imizamo Yethu, Meadows, Tarragona, Oakwood, Bokkemanskloof, Overkloof, Silvermist, Longkloof, Valley, Victorskloof, Nooitgedacht, Beach Estate, Northshore, Mount Rhodes, Klein Leeukoppie Estate, Ruyteplaats, Tierboskloof, Kronenzicht, Hangberg, Hout Bay Heights and Hughenden Estate.

This area is surrounded by mountains to the north, east and west and the ocean to the south.  There are three main routes into Hout Bay, one from Camps Bay on the Atlantic Seaboard, from the Noordhoek side via Chapman’s Peak and from Constantia Nek.

It is now almost self-sufficient in that it has all the major chain stores and has many smaller stores and boutiques, a selection of good schools, including the well known Hout Bay International School and various public and private schools, a medical centre, and a vast array of restaurants, coffee shops, sports facilities and gymnasia. 

Property for sale in Hout Bay caters for many different needs, from young single people wanting bachelor apartments to families wanting large spaces for their children.  There is a mix of freehold property within estates (19,7%), sectional title schemes in estates (.91%), freehold (61,99%), and sectional schemes (17,4%).