These are the fastest-growing suburbs in Joburg and Cape Town

 ·3 Feb 2023

Residential property development in the Western Cape has been outperforming Gauteng since 2017 – and nine out of the top ten suburbs in each province are home to affordable or entry-level housing, says property analytics company Lightstone Property.

Hayley Ivins-Downes, the head of digital at the company, said the bulk of the new residential property is taking place in the affordable housing category – and recent transfer volumes further confirm the declining appetite in Gauteng and rising demand in the Western Cape.

She said that the shift could be fueled by semigration, work-from-home trends and the movement of people to better-functioning municipalities.

Ivins-Downes provided the following number of Gauteng properties developed over time:

  • 2008 – 3,358
  • 2009 – 2,098
  • 2010 – 1,680
  • 2016 – 2,157

It has, however, been in decline since, touching just short of 1,700 in 2021, she said.

According to the property expert, the Western Cape felt similar effects but recovered to a higher point:

  • 2008 – 2,768
  • 2011 – 1,529
  • 2018 – 2,157
  • 2020 – 1,373

The province reported a recovery to 2,078 in 2021, significantly higher than Gauteng at 1,700.

The graph below shows the volume of property developments compared between the two provinces:


Lightstone Property reported that transfer volumes for the provinces follow a similar pattern as development volumes.

“(Transfer) Volumes in Gauteng peaked at 135,072 in 2008 before the market crashed, and had climbed back to 123,405 in 2015 before declining year on year until the 2021 post-Covid bounce back.

“The 2022 numbers will demonstrate whether the recovery has longevity or whether the gentle decline will continue. The trendline in the WC is positive, with 66,942 transfers in 2021, the highest recorded in the province since 2008,” she said.

The graph below, provided by Lightstone, shows the trend in transfer volumes:

According to Lightstone, transfers in the Western Cape were also considerably higher in value when compared to Gauteng.

“The top three bands in Gauteng are R500 thousand-R1 million, R1-R2 million and R250-R500 thousand, while the WC is the top transfer band, since 2016, followed by R500 thousand -R1 million and R2 million-R3 million”, she said.

Provincial hotspots

In both Gauteng and the Western Cape, nine out of the top suburbs in which development has taken place since 2008 are suburbs with affordable housing, in some cases transitioning from informal housing to the formal market, said Lightstone.

Gauteng

Ivins-Downes said that residential development in Gauteng has seen the most activity in Olievenhoutbosch, a township near Centurion, south of the political capital Pretoria.

“It was previously an informal settlement and is reportedly one of the fastest-growing residential nodes in the province,” said the digital head of Lightstone.

The second most active residential development zone is Riverside View – adjacent to Steyn City in Fourways. It offers both new and resale affordable housing, said Ivins-Downes.

Soshanguve East, located north of Rosslyn’s industrial area, follows in third.

Other areas include:

  • Windmill Park, on the East Rand
  • Soshanguve South, outside Pretoria
  • Savanna City, South of Johannesburg
  • Midstream in Midrand – the only higher-income suburb in the top ten
  • Nellmapius, East of Silverton, Pretoria
  • Fleurhof Ext 3-30, southwest of Johannesburg
  • Lufhereng, to the west of Soweto.

Western Cape

As with Gauteng, nine of Cape Town’s top ten in terms of development are townships or areas transitioning from informal to formal housing, said Ivins-Downes.

More than 8,400 properties have been developed in Delft, the fastest-growing node in the province, situated next to the Cape Town International Airport, she said.

Bloekombos, situated on Cape Town’s eastern border, near Kraaifontein, follows with 5,121 properties developed.

Khayelitsha Site C is third, followed by:

  • Brown’s Farm, within Philippi
  • Pelikan Park, which Muizenberg bounds
  • Burgundy Estate is sixth, ten minutes from Century City and the only mid to upper-income suburb in the top ten
  • Asanda, situated near the Asla Industrial Park
  • Fairdale, next to Eerste Rivier, Wallacedene, on the eastern edge of Cape Town
  • Sunset Glen, which is just across the M54 from Fairdale


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