Western Cape remains most expensive for renting

Three provinces, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape experienced negative year-on-year rental growth in Q2 with rental properties cheaper than they were in the same period during 2019.

The Western Cape remains the province with the most expensive rental accommodation, but KwaZulu-Natal has given up its place as the second most expensive province to rent to Gauteng, according to the PayProp rental index for Q2 2020.

The average rent in the Western Cape is R9,022, down from R9,025 a year ago. It is still the only province where the average rent is more than R9,000 per month. KwaZulu-Natal was the second most expensive province a year ago, but has moved to fourth position with rent of R8,037 per month due to negative growth of 1.6% over the year.

Gauteng took KwaZulu-Natal’s place as the second most expensive province with rent of R8,344 per month, followed by the Northern Cape with R8,081. The Eastern Cape crossed the R6,000-mark in Q4 2019 and now has an average rent of R6,052.

The North West is the only province with an average rent below R6,000 at R5,235, because its rent figures are heavily influenced by student accommodation consisting of low-rent apartments and dorm rooms. Limpopo rent levels crossed the R7,000 mark, but in the wrong direction, with rent levels decreasing from R7,227 in Q2 2019 to R6,962 in Q2 2020, a decrease of 3.7%.

The Free State had the highest growth rate of all the provinces at 4.7%, with average rent increasing from R6,166 a year ago to R6,455. Mpumalanga’s rent levels are closest to the national average, with an increase from R7,381 in Q2 2019 to R7,463 in Q2 2020.

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