While we primarily deal with technology news this morning we were sent some rather interesting data from Adzuna.
The online recruitment portal analysed more than 100 000 job listings against average rental prices in South Africa to determine what percentage of a salary goes toward rent.
The research assumes that the cost of monthly rent is carried by a single person occupying a 1-bedroom apartment within city centres of South Africa’s 15 biggest towns and cities.
So which is the most expensive city to rent property in, we ask knowing that everybody already knows the answer?
Cape Town.
Adzuna’s research found that with an average monthly rent of R11 050 and an average salary of R28 927, Capetonians spend 38 percent of their income on rent.
Things aren’t much better in Vanderbijlpark where average rent is R5 000 and the average salary is R12 829. Renters in this area are forking out 38 percent of their salary to stay there.
The rent vs average salary for the 15 biggest cities follows below.
City | Average Monthly Rent (1 bedroom apartment) | Average Monthly Salary | % of Income Spent on Rent |
Cape Town | R11050 | R28927 | 38% |
Vanderbijlpark | R5000 | R12829 | 38% |
Sandton | R10833 | R29146 | 37% |
Richards Bay | R5400 | R20475 | 26% |
Centurion | R6833 | R28479 | 23% |
George | R4375 | R19799 | 22% |
Pietermaritzburg | R3500 | R15778 | 22% |
Paarl | R5750 | R26894 | 21% |
Durban | R4896 | R22811 | 21% |
Pretoria | R4764 | R23754 | 20% |
East London | R4277 | R21961 | 19% |
Johannesburg | R6305 | R33261 | 18% |
Port Elizabeth | R3875 | R22338 | 17% |
Bloemfontein | R3750 | R23207 | 16% |
Polokwane | R3200 | R28789 | 11% |
“It is interesting to note that Johannesburg comes up as one of the most affordable cities for renting employees. The results we see here could be because employment in Johannesburg offers much higher salaries when compared with job opportunities in cities such as Bloemfontein, for example,” says Adzuna South Africa country manager, Jesse Green.
In terms of rentals, the most expensive provinces are Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga garnering 45 percent, 42 percent and 33 percent of salaries in rentals alone.
Province | Median Rental Price | Average Salary | % of Salary Spent on Rent |
Western Cape | R13500 | R29519 | 45% |
KwaZulu-Natal | R9500 | R22275 | 42% |
Mpumalanga | R7400 | R22184 | 33% |
Limpopo | R7798 | R23143 | 33% |
Gauteng | R9000 | R28938 | 31% |
Eastern Cape | R6000 | R22157 | 27% |
North West | R7280 | R26365 | 27% |
Free State | R5995 | R21771 | 27% |
Northern Cape | R8800 | R34823 | 25% |
While it’s not exactly tech news the figures outlined by Adzuna are interesting and we’re now looking to see whether the boss will move our HQ to Polokwane.
[Image – CC0 Pixabay]