According to an analysis by PayProp, almost 20% of South Africans who rent are in arrears.
Research conducted by the payment and reconciliation platform said that 18.4% of residential tenants in SA are in arrears on their rent.
“The national percentage of tenants in arrears ticked up slightly this quarter, from 18.0% to 18.4%,” the PayProp Rental Index noted.
The research noted that this figure of 18.4% is “still within the normal range seen before and after the Covid-19 pandemic”.
When you look at each province, the research noted that the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the Western Cape all experienced small increases in the rate of renters being in arrears.
“The remaining provinces all bucked the trend. In the Free State, the percentage of tenants in arrears fell from 26.7% to 25.2%. That’s still the highest in the country, but only by 0.2%. Meanwhile, in the Northern Cape, it dropped from 20.1% to 19.3%.”
WHERE TO RENT IN SA
The Western Cape and Northern Cape are the country’s most expensive provinces to rent a home, while the Free State and North West are the cheapest, according to the research.
“Average rents reached R9,730 in Q2 from R9,462 a year earlier, but year-on-year growth was just 2.8%—the second-lowest in the country and well below the 5.0% set last quarter.”
PayProp noted that the North West reported SA’s highest rental growth this quarter at 9.3%.
When you break this down, it reflects an increase of R507 in cash terms and “a huge swing compared to last quarter’s below-average growth of 3.9%.”
“The province’s average rent of R5,985 means it still has the cheapest rental properties in South Africa.”
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