Nox Cape Town is a luxury residential property management and sales company that has created lasting change within the short-term rentals market. Dedicated to providing exemplary guest experiences with a culture of continuous improvement, Nick Taylor, Managing Director and Owner, and Richard Marshall, Founder and Owner, outline its burgeoning success.
A WHOLE HOST OF LUXURY
Providing specialist residential short-term rental management services and traditional long-term leasing, in addition to investment guidance on asset acquisition and the sale of homes, Nox Cape Town (Nox) emerges as a property management company with a difference.
Established in 2003, Nox serves Cape Town’s premium residential suburbs along the Atlantic Seaboard, including the Camps Bay, Clifton, Green Point, Sea Point, and V&A Waterfront areas, with a focus on luxury.
“With assets under management (AUM) totalling around ZAR2.5 billion, most of the properties we look after are owned by foreign investors, predominantly from the UK and Europe. They look to us to seek rental yield through short-term letting,” introduces Nick Taylor, Managing Director and Owner.
In this way, Nox’s clients are able to generate rental returns through their properties, which are typically higher than long-term leasing.
“We help our clients to maximise their return on investment whilst taking excellent care of their properties,” expands Richard Marshall, Founder and Owner.
As a company that prides itself on its ability to stay abreast of emerging trends, Nox continues to remain competitive within the industry despite market changes and fluctuations.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate space in Africa has continued to evolve at a rapid pace, especially within the residential and commercial sectors.
As such, Nox has noted a recent rise in dynamic residential models that meet a new wave of lifestyle and working trends. For instance, co-working and co-living spaces are on the up, not only in standalone homes but also in repurposed buildings.
“This is an incredibly exciting field to be working in, especially due to the rising demand for private, exclusive luxury accommodations which support the ability to work remotely,” Taylor observes.
Positioned in the upper echelons of the residential sector in Cape Town, Nox has developed a burgeoning portfolio of luxury properties over the years.
THE NOX DIFFERENCE
With a keen focus on ensuring that every property in its portfolio meets rigorous brand standards, Nox is selective of the properties it acquires.
The company typically only takes on four in every 10 properties viewed, each undergoing a stringent screening process and a 300-point onboarding check. In addition, each property must possess ‘tourism potential’ – a unique, exclusive, or distinctive feature.
“We’re not in the business of what has become a commoditised offering; we want to ensure that each of our guests obtains a memorable experience from our hand-selected accommodations,” Marshall outlines.
Having established a property’s discernible tourism potential and accepted it within the portfolio, Nox offers real-time insights into its investment performance, including advanced metrics such as a net operating income (NOI), average daily rates (ADR), guest review scores, and capitalisation rate through an owner dashboard.
“This kind of investment data is a first for the African continent and has allowed our clients to make informed decisions about additional opportunities in the market. Along with our sales team, who specialise in the sale of investment properties, this has contributed to an expanding portfolio,” Taylor divulges.
In addition, Nox carefully considers the needs of guests, agents, partners, and the property itself to comprehensively maintain high brand standards and processes, further contributing to ‘the Nox difference’.
“We’re always looking at ways to heighten the guest experience, simplify the booking process, and innovate and improve; our brand standards, routine inspections, and quality control processes ensure that guests have a luxury experience, and our properties are always in top-notch shape,” he surmises.
Equally, Nox is heavily involved in the community thanks to its local presence, with offices in Camps Bay and properties in Cape Town. The company imparts its deep-rooted knowledge of the area in the form of recommendations and market advice for clients and guests.
“Having lived and worked in the area for decades, we understand the nuances and have a deep understanding of how this impacts both the liveability of a property and its ability to generate income,” Marshall posits.
“We’re privileged to work in some of South Africa’s most beautiful suburbs, in a community which continues to be driven by the soul of Africa”
Nick Taylor, Managing Director and Owner, Nox Cape Town
SCALING UP INVESTMENT
An increasing need for informed property investment decisions has become apparent in recent years across Africa, especially with the ongoing expansion of the local residential market, which has seen annual capital growth exceeding 10 percent per annum.
“We have a number of existing property owners and interested buyers looking to us to provide expert rental investment data on the investment profile across the Atlantic Seaboard, backed by deep analytics,” Taylor reveals.
As such, Nox is currently working on an investment fund to cater for new interest in the Cape Town luxury real estate market, due to be launched in Q1 2025.
Further to this, short-term destination rentals are also becoming more prominent, lending themselves to groups who wish to utilise the space exclusively and add on services such as day tours, excursions, and private chefs.
“More recently, we hosted our first ever dedicated short-term rentals conference. SCALE South Africa (SCALE) was a two-day event held in Cape Town, in which 250 attendees came together to discuss the short-term rentals industry,” Marshall comments.
SCALE resulted in a sense of unity and collaboration between attendees whilst planting the seed for the development of the South African Short-Term Rentals Association.
None of this success would be possible, however, without the company’s dedicated team of staff, or ‘Noxies’ as they’re affectionately known, along with its loyal guests and host of supportive homeowners.
“We’re privileged to work in some of South Africa’s most beautiful suburbs, in a community which continues to be driven by the soul of Africa,” Taylor smiles.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
As a company fortunate to have been part of the digital transformation of the luxury real estate industry, as well as the development of the short-term rental market, Nox feels that the quality of real estate offerings, coupled with sound investment metrics, make Cape Town a world-class destination.
To accommodate the resulting growth of customer needs, Nox’s new website is capable of adapting to specific users and regions, whilst an integrated property management system (PMS) is able to identify what type of villa guests are looking for.
“In other words, we’re able to know and adapt the customer journey on our site based on preferences, search history, demographics, and the time of year,” Marshall excites.
Nox is entering the final phase of its ‘vivid vision’, which has served as a roadmap and manifesto for the company’s notable progress over the past four years.
In short, Nox’s vivid vision outlines the company’s culture and core values of delivering happiness and client satisfaction, as well as its core business activities, including cultivating exemplary guest experiences and retaining a 95 percent annual retention rate. This vision also guides Nox’s business operations, sales and marketing approach, financials, and corporate social investment (CSI) activities.
Having drawn up the vision at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor and Marshall are pleased with the progress Nox has made towards each of its goals and objectives.
“Although at times the vivid vision has forced us to make some uncomfortable decisions, it has been the guiding light of our organisation over the past three years.”
Thus, as a company that is hyper-committed to ensuring guests have the best possible stay and clients have the optimum ownership experience, Nox continues to maintain a revitalised and refreshing approach to real estate.
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