Hillcrest was formerly a sleepy village, governed by its own Town Board[5] on the outskirts of Durban that has now become a booming suburb incorporated into the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.

One of the other early families to set up in the area was the Acutts who had already established the well known in Durban estate agents firm of that name.

When the first Hillcrest Health Committee was established in 1943, the total all-race population was 1135 persons and only the Main Road was hardened.

With rural origins, Hillcrest has been swept up in Durban's urban sprawl and experienced a building boom in the late 1990s and 2000s with the construction of many shopping centres and gated communities such as Cotswold Downs, Camelot and Plantations.

It lies at an altitude of approximately 680 m (2231 ft) above sea level in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, just above Durban.