WHALECoast Stories

Numbers

Cost of living

Village prices, coastal insurance, and the hidden cost of the drive.

Cheaper than the city — until it isn't

Some household costs are gentler than Cape Town's Atlantic seaboard. Property is its own market — not “cheap beach” by default. Groceries in a village can be dearer than a big-box shop. You will spend petrol on Hermanus. Insurance must take wind, flood, and fire seriously.

Treat online cost-of-living calculators as entertainment. Bring your actual basket: medical aid, school, garden service, two-home electricity if you keep a city base. Johan can talk in ranges and street-level reality, not fake precision.

Next step

Talk to Johan

A conversation costs nothing and usually saves a wasted trip — or starts a chapter.