Property Newsletter | March 2023

Average value of registered residential property sales in townships rises over 10 years

The average value of registered residential property sales in five major South African townships – Mamelodi (Gauteng), Umlazi (KwaZulu- Natal), Khayelitsha (Western Cape), Thembisa (Gauteng) and Soshanguve (Gauteng) – have risen over the past decade.

Lightstone analysed residential market indicators in the five randomly picked townships to provide a snapshot of homeownership patterns from 2013 - 2023.

Average value of registrations 2013 - current

The increase in average value of registrations has been most pronounced in Thembisa, moving from R284 217 in 2013 to R717 169 in 2023, and Mamelodi, which went from R232 972 in 2013 to R687 469 in 2022, marginally higher than the average recorded in 2023.

The average value of registrations in Khayelitsha and Umlazi have risen consistently over the ten years, but Soshanguve has seen a fall in 2023 to R180 777 from a high of R472 362 in 2022.

Five townships under the spotlight

While the average value of registrations has been flattest in Soshanguve, registration volumes (see graph below) have outstripped the other townships every year over the past decade.

Volume of registrations

Khayelitsha has been consistently on the low side in terms of new property registrations, while Umlazi and Thembisa have seen activity levels increase in 2021 and 2022 after a ten-year low in 2020.

Thembisa comes out top in terms of Lightstone’s estimated average value of each property. The township’s 34 071 properties are valued at R610 420 on average, compared to R515 726 in Umlazi (37 568 properties), Mamelodi (R457 533 average value for 41 643 properties), Soshanguve (R357 108 average value for 78 867 properties) and Khayelitsha (R336 765 average value for 47 795 properties).

Average household income and adult population

The average household income is highest in Umlazi at between R11 000 and R22 000 a month compared to an average of R5 500 and R11 000 a month in the other four townships, while Soshanguve has the most number of resident adults at 430 641, followed by Thembisa with 329 517 and Mamelodi at 327 903.

Average household income and adult population

Most homeowners have had tenure for more than 11 years. In Umlazi, more than 85% have been in the same home for longer than 11 years, while Soshanguve is the lowest at around 63%. Soshanguve is also the place with the highest percentage of relatively new homeowners (less than five years).

Tenure of current owners

Recent buyers have mostly been middle aged (see graph below), while Soshanguve had a relatively high percentage of mature buyers. Homeowner stability is most pronounced in all the townships surveyed in the mature and pensioner age categories with Umlazi being the exception where the most stable owners are in the younger age groups. Recent sellers in Khayelitsha and Soshanguve tend to be young, while Thembisa and Mamelodi sellers tend to be of mature and pensioner age groups respectively. 

Who are the buyers and sellers?