Lightstone Property has taken a ten-year look (2013 – 2023) at five townships which shows that the average value of registered residential property sales has increased. The townships in question: Mamelodi (Gauteng), Umlazi (KwaZulu- Natal), Khayelitsha (Western Cape), Thembisa (Gauteng) and Soshanguve (Gauteng).
During his recent opening address at the NAR seminar in Johannesburg, Steven Ngubeni, chairman of the PPRA, spoke about the viability and growth of townships as registered, residential property markets. His speech sited Soweto, which is arguably still the biggest success story, and Lightstone Property’s research indicates other townships across the country are following suit.
The value of registrations
When looking at the past decade, Thembisa is in the lead in terms of the average value of registrations, growing from R284 217 in 2013 to R717 169 in 2023, followed by Mamelodi, which went from R232 972 in 2013 to R687 469 in 2022. Umlazi and Khayelitsha have also shown consistent growth.
The volume of registrations
While Shoshanguve (situated 30km north of Pretoria) lags in terms of value growth, it outshines the other townships in terms of the sheer volume of registrations taking place. That being said, it would seem that average property value in the township is the second lowest at R357 108, outpacing only Khayelitsha at R336 765. The highest property value is to be found in Thembisa at R610 420, followed by Umlazi at R515 726.
Tenure of the current owners
Interestingly, in Khayelista, Mamelodi, Thembisa and Umlazi, over 60% of current owners have owned their properties for eleven years or more. That said, there is movement with owners of properties for less than seven in all five townships.
Who are the buyers and sellers?
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.
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