{"id":853844,"date":"2026-03-21T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853844"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:52:00","slug":"the-tiny-cities-booming-across-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/853844\/the-tiny-cities-booming-across-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The tiny ‘cities’ booming across South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mixed-use neighbourhoods in South Africa are seeing massive price growth, with buyers and investors drawn to the amenities on offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixed-use areas, which are often called a “city within a city,” have become key 15-minute neighbourhoods, where everything is within walking distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reduces the need for commutes, while also providing a high-quality, integrated work-live-play lifestyle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These neighbourhoods offer diverse land use across residential, hospitality, and commercial sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeff said that these mixed-use neighbourhoods are generally highly sought by investors for high rental demand and stable yields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They often boast a high percentage of residential rental investments, with yields of 7% to 10%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeff said that mixed-use neighbourhoods in Cape Town have been among the best-performing in the country, with double-digit YoY price growth over five years. This tops both national and Cape Town averages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices in top neighbourhoods are up by 30% to 50% over five years and by 12% to 16% YoY. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This outpaces the average of 9.1% for Cape Town and 6.6% nationally for last year, based on StatsSA data from around September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These mixed-use areas have become key 15-minute neighbourhoods where everything is within walking distance, reducing commuting stress while providing a high-quality, integrated work-live-play lifestyle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are quality neighbourhoods offering diverse land use across residential, hospitality, and commercial sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helga Clemo, licensee for Seeff Century City in Cape Town, said the lifestyle has been wholeheartedly embraced by tenants, buyers and investors, and that the area is flourishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices in Century City have been up by over 20% over the last two years. Sellers and landlords are achieving great results right now as stock levels are low due to the sustained high demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Century City market is experiencing a multi-year high with properties for sale and rent being snapped up rapidly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from young professionals, over one-third are under 35, and mixed-use neighbourhoods have also become primary “semigration” destinations, according to Clemo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Century City offers offices, hotels, convention facilities, the Canal Walk shopping centre, Virgin Active, Intaka Island Nature Reserve, MyCiti bus access, and close proximity to the CBD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Century City’s “lock-up-and-go” mixed-use lifestyle is also complemented by views of Table Mountain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other popular mixed-use areas in Cape Town include the CBD, which has seen 53.5% price growth over the last five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The V&A Waterfront has also seen a 5-year growth of 28%, with the average price of a residential unit standing at R18 million, while the Tyger Waterfront has seen growth of 31% over the last five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbourhood<\/strong><\/td>Ave Price (Residential)<\/strong><\/td>YoY Growth<\/strong><\/td>5-Yr Growth<\/strong><\/td>Key Driver<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
CBD (City Bowl)<\/strong><\/td>R1.95m<\/td>16.3%<\/td>53.5%<\/td>Urban regeneration & student housing<\/td><\/tr>
Century City<\/strong><\/td>R2.85m<\/td>12.0%<\/td>34.0%<\/td>Secure “live-work-play” precinct<\/td><\/tr>
Tyger Waterfront<\/strong><\/td>R1.64m<\/td>15.0%<\/td>31.0%<\/td>Northern Suburbs business hub<\/td><\/tr>
V&A Waterfront<\/strong><\/td>R18.0m<\/td>14.2%<\/td>28.0%<\/td>Scarcity & ultra-luxury demand<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Countrywide growth <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Century City, the average sales price is now R2.85 million, with Seeff seeing sales up to R6.9 million over the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landlords have also achieved strong yields, with the average rental now around R19,100 per month and top-end rentals over R80,000 per month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Properties are mostly sectional titles, comprising 83% of the stock, along with freeholds in estates, 17%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While sectional titles vary between R1.8 million and R3 million, full-titles range between R3.5 million and R4.5 million, but can reach up to R16 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other popular mixed-use neighbourhoods in South Africa outside Cape Town include Menlyn Maine in Pretoria East, which has seen 28% growth over 5 years, with prices ranging from R1.95 million to R3.2 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melrose Arch in Johannesburg has also seen 18% growth over five years, with prices ranging from R3.1 million to R4.5 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices in Umhlanga Ridge, Durban, have also risen by 42% over 5 years, to a range of R2.8 million to R5.5 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbourhood<\/strong><\/td>Region<\/strong><\/td>Price Range (Typical)<\/strong><\/td>5-Yr Growth<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Umhlanga Ridge<\/strong><\/td>KZN (Durban)<\/td>R2.8m \u2013 R5.5m<\/td>42.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Menlyn Maine<\/strong><\/td>Gauteng (Pretoria)<\/td>R1.95m \u2013 R3.2m<\/td>28.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Melrose Arch<\/strong><\/td>Gauteng (Joburg)<\/td>R3.1m \u2013 R4.5m<\/td>18.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Images<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Melrose Arch in Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Century City in Cape Town<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
V&A Waterfront in Cape Town<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Menlyn Maine in Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Umhlanga Ridge in Durban<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Tyger Waterfront<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Cape Town CBD <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mixed-use developments are booming in South Africa, with strong growth in prices over the last five years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":787221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[10773],"class_list":["post-853844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-seeff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853844","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853844"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853869,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853844\/revisions\/853869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}