This is where South Africa’s billionaires are buying property

·14 Oct 2023

In several areas in South Africa, billionaires still have to fork out a substantial amount to own a property.

According to the latest Centi-Millionaire Report by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, 102 centi-millionaires have investable assets of $100 million (R1.9 billion) or more in South Africa.

Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at New World Wealth, noted that many emerging countries only have a few billionaires – South Africa has five, which makes the centi-millionaire wealth band a far more accurate reflection of the insanely wealth in the country.

Despite not being as expensive as other cities, such as Monaco or New York, there are still several areas that only the incredibly rich in South Africa could afford.

According to the research, five of the ten most expensive cities/areas for centi-millionaires in Africa are found in South Africa when looking at the average square metre price of a prime 200 to 400 square meter apartment.

Cape Town is by far the most expensive city for cent-millionaires, coming out at $5,200/sqm (R100,000/sqm).

Hermans and Plettenberg Bay complete the top three, with both costing $2,200/sqm (R42,000/sqm).

Umhlanga is the fourth most expensive area in South Africa at $2,000/sqm ( R38,000/sqm), whilst the finance hub is fifth at $1,800/sqm (R34,000/sqm).

Below are the 10 most expensive cities for centi-millionaires across Africa:

Rank	City/Area	Country	PER SQM
1	Cape Town	South Africa	$5,200 (R100,000)
=2	Hermanus	South Africa	$2,200 (R42,000)
=2	Plettenberg Bay	South Africa	$2,200 (R42,000)
=4	Marrakech	Morocco	$2,000 (R38,000)
=4	Umhlanga	South Africa	$2,000 (R38,000)
6	Central Sandton	South Africa	$1,800 (R34,000)
7	Tangier	Morocco	$1,600 (R30,000)
=8	Casablanca	Morocco	$1,200 (R23,000)
=8	Cairo	Egypt	$1,200 (R23,000)
=8	Nairobi	Kenya	$1,200 (R23,000)

With this in mind, BusinessTech has looked at properties currently on the market where billionaires would have to pay huge amounts to own an apartment in South Africa:

Cape Town