BBC Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett is facing criticism from South African residents after listing his Cape Town property for £8.5 million, more than double what he paid for it. The 33-year-old businessman, who is worth more than £37 million, bought the seven-bedroom mega-mansion in 2024 for £3.8 million.
Located on the slopes of Table Mountain in Bishopscourt, the Diary Of A CEO podcast host spent two years renovating the house. He added features including a padel court alongside the swimming pool, home cinema and spa. Bartlett also rented the home to Warner Bros International productions to film parts of Germany's version of reality television show The Bachelor.
However, the Botswana-born entrepreneur is less vocal about this enterprise, which has drawn scrutiny from angry local residents. Critics accuse him of "flipping" the home by buying a house and fixing it up to sell quickly for an inflated profit. Private Eye has mocked Bartlett as the "king of self-mythologisation" due to his boasts about his lucrative business ventures.
Local property price anger
South African residents and social media commentators have criticized the sale, accusing Bartlett of driving up local property prices and making the area unaffordable for locals. Resident Sedick Dawood said: "I love Steven, but here again Cape Town is being bought by foreigners, under the guise of 'foreign investment', but in reality pushing up property prices for citizens."
When the house recently went up for sale, another person on social media said: "We are unable to enjoy or afford to enjoy our own land because of foreign demand."
It remains unclear if flipping the house was Bartlett's intention all along. A friend of his said: "Steven loves the place in South Africa, but he's just not able to visit it enough. His business has expanded so much - with offices in the US as well as the UK - that most of his time is taken up criss-crossing the Atlantic."
The friend added that Bartlett was able to stay there for only four weeks last year, saying it "just doesn't make any sense to keep it". Bartlett's spokesman declined to comment.
