Meanwhile, in the background, first-time buyers and investors were flooding to the developers’ sales offices to snap up these tiny apartments. The sheer speed of the sales was almost unprecedented. Micro-apartments at Newlands Peak in Newlands (by Rawson Developers) sold out entirely on launch day. BlackBrick Cape Town in the city’s CBD (by Ryan Joffe Properties) sold 60% of its micro-units in its first week. The Flamingo in Sea Point (by Signatura) enjoyed similar success, with only 5 of its compact studios still listed as available. So, what is the secret behind the appeal of these controversial, small-space properties? “One of the biggest and most obvious attractions of micro-apartments is their relative affordability,” says Brad Morgan, Head of Marketing at Rawson Developers. “With interest rates as low as they are today, first-time buyers can get their hands on a micro-unit in a top-tier lifestyle development for a very similar monthly outlay to what they would normally pay in rent. Investors are also able to diversify their portfolios at a lower expense, often improving their overall ROI at the same time.”