South African consumers struggling with rent
South African consumers are struggling to pay their rent on time, with one in every four tenants not being able to fulfill their rental obligations.
South African consumers struggling with rent
According to the PayProp Rental Index for Q1 2018, a definitive overview of rental behaviour put together by the biggest processor of residential letting transactions in South Africa, only one in every four tenants in South Africa meet their rental obligations.
PayProp head of data Johette Smuts said nationally, they had measured an increase in the percentage of tenants in arrears from 18.5% in April 2017 to 23.2& in March 2018. “This means that only 76.8% of tenants pay their rent in full every month – and one in four don’t,” Smuts said.
Smuts said that the average arrears percentage relative to rent was also gradually going up. “In April 2017, the average tenant in arrears was just over 80% in arrears. In March 2018, this number was much closer to 100% (96,4% to be exact), meaning the average tenant in arrears is almost one full month behind with their rent. Unfortunately, this is the trend we see for every province,” he said.
The lowest rental bracket (R1,000 – R2,500) has the lowest number of tenants in good standing and the highest percentage of arrears relative to rent. Smuts says it’s very important to select good tenants when renting out property, despite the fact that they’re increasingly hard to find.
