{"id":829410,"date":"2025-06-28T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=829410"},"modified":"2025-06-27T15:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:21:16","slug":"how-much-it-costs-to-live-in-the-best-run-municipality-outside-the-western-cape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/829410\/how-much-it-costs-to-live-in-the-best-run-municipality-outside-the-western-cape\/","title":{"rendered":"How much it costs to live in the best-run municipality outside the Western Cape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based on average house prices, one would need to earn between R32,000 and R102,000 per month to buy a home in Midvaal\u2014South Africa\u2019s best-run municipality outside of the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midvaal Municipality is a local municipality within the Sedibeng District Municipality in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Its population is around 111,612.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality’s name references its geographical location between the Johannesburg and East Rand areas and the Vaal and Vereeniging areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midvaal was highlighted as an exception in the Auditor General of South Africa\u2019s (AGSA) annual review of local municipalities, which covered audit results for the 2023\/24 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gauteng, the AG Tsakani Maluleke said that her office implored leadership to act urgently to improve audit outcomes, but not enough progress has been made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMunicipalities and municipal entities continue to experience challenges with financial viability, compliance with legislation, and service delivery,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that two municipalities and three municipal entities (21% of the auditees) received clean audits in 2023-24, compared to two municipalities and one municipal entity (13%) in 2020-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, six municipalities and 10 municipal entities (67%) received unqualified audit opinions with findings. Midvaal Local Municipality and Johannesburg Market maintained their clean audits from last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, West Rand District Municipality, Ekurhuleni Water Care Company, and Ekurhuleni Housing Company improved to clean audit status in 2023-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midvaal has maintained its clan audit status for 11 consecutive years, making it one of the best-run municipalities outside the Western Cape and in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midvaal\u2019s achievement is particularly noteworthy as only seven municipalities nationwide earned clean audits consecutively for over a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clean audit requires municipalities to provide financial statements that are free from material misstatements (in other words, a financially unqualified audit opinion), and there are no material findings on reporting on performance objectives or non-compliance with legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to AGSA, municipalities that consistently achieve clean audits over the years tend to exhibit strong financial and performance management practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Maluleke cautioned that a clean audit, while critical, does not automatically mean excellent service delivery. \u201cIt does not always reflect the lived experience of all communities in a municipal area,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, she added that it does create the necessary foundation for effective and transparent governance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An assessment by Ratings Afrika in 2024 also highlighted Midvaal as one of South Africa\u2019s top-performing municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They used a scoring system that evaluates six critical factors: operating performance, liquidity management, debt governance, budget positioning, affordability, and infrastructure development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality scored impressively, achieving 74 out of 100 regarding financial sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMidvaal prides itself on a well-governed, effectively managed, financially viable and sustainable local government,\u201d the municipality said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a municipality committed and dedicated to creating an environment conducive to social and economic development.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much you need to earn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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According to data from Property24, Midvaal remains considerably more affordable than other well-run municipalities in the country, especially the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far in 2025, there have been 357 property sales, with an average price of just under R1 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices in Midvaal range from R900,000 for smaller one-bedroom apartments to about R3 million for more spacious full-title homes with five or more bedrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When evaluating how much one would need to earn to buy property in these areas, financial experts recommend a rule of thumb that mortgage payments should not exceed 30% of the borrower\u2019s gross monthly income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Gray, CEO of Harcourts South Africa, explains that banks typically prefer lending to buyers within this income threshold, ensuring that home loan payments do not overextend borrowers\u2019 finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many financial institutions uphold this 30% standard, including SA Homeloans, which generally will not approve a loan if repayments exceed this percentage of a borrower\u2019s income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gray emphasised the importance of this threshold for maintaining financial balance, allowing homeowners to manage other expenses and build savings while repaying their loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adhering to this guideline allows borrowers to make additional payments on their home loan when possible, significantly reducing the loan\u2019s overall cost and shortening the repayment term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using this 30% income threshold, BusinessTech estimated the income needed to afford homes in Midvaal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the average home in Midvaal, with a cost of R920,000, an income of approximately R32,000 per month or R384,000 per year would be needed to comfortably manage the monthly bond repayments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the top end of around R3 million, one would need to earn roughly R101,500 per month or R1.22 million per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Leapfrog Property Group, popular neighborhoods include Meyerton, Eye of Africa, Vaal Marina, Glen Donald, Risiville, and Blue Saddle Ranches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Midvaal Local Municipality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the only municipality outside the Western Cape that has consecutively earned a clean audit for over a decade, and how much you need to make to afford to buy a home there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":829464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[22966,22965,3429,853],"class_list":["post-829410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-harcourts-south-africa","tag-midvaal","tag-property24","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829410"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829801,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829410\/revisions\/829801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}