Cape Town leads the way in property inflation
· The South African
Cape Town is widely known as South Africa’s most expensive city to buy property.
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Not only does Cape Town have the nation’s highest average property price, but Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) confirms that property inflation is hitting the city hard.
It’s becoming more expensive to buy property in Cape Town
According to the Residential Property Price Index Report Stats SA released on Thursday, property inflation in the city increased by 12.8% between March 2025 and March 2026.
This is 4.4 percentage points higher than the nation’s average among metros.
Every category of property in Cape Town sold at numbers higher than the previous year. All but one category had a double-digit price increase.
- Prices for properties sold for the first time increased by 0.9%.
- Resold property prices increased by 13.5%.
- Sectional title prices increased by 11.5%.
- Freehold property prices increased by 10.9%.
No other metro on the list had double-digit figures for that period.
Instead, the next metro was Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), which saw a 7.2% rise in property prices over the same period.
Nelson Mandela Bay saw a 2.7% price rise year-on-year among properties sold for the first time. Resold properties in the Eastern Cape metro increased by 7.2% over the period. Sectional Titles also increased by 4.7%.
Freehold properties in NMB were the biggest winners, increasing by 9.1%.
The win wasn’t limited to Nelson Mandela Bay. Sellers throughout the Eastern Cape had something to smile about as the province’s property price inflation reached 6.7% year-on-year.
Other Metros Seeing Strong Performance
While Cape Town remained the breakout metro and Nelson Mandela Bay saw significant increases, other metros performed decently.
In Gauteng, Tshwane led the way with a 5.3% increase in property prices.
Johannesburg maintained its momentum, with a 5% property price increase.
The best-performing category for both metros was freehold properties. These property prices increased by 8.4% in Tshwane and 9.1% in Johannesburg.
Section Titles were the worst performing. In Johannesburg, these types of properties lost value.
Between March 2025 and March 2026, they decreased by half a percentage. In Tshwane, they only increased by 1%.
Overall Metro Performance
Nationally, the average residential property price increased by 8.4%, driven primarily by increases in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Tshwane.
MetroMarch 2025 – March 2026 (% Change) National Average DifferenceCity of Cape Town12.8%+4.4 pointsNelson Mandela Bay7.2%-1.2 pointsBuffalo City5.4%-3.0 pointsCity of Tshwane5.3%-3.1 pointsCity of Johannesburg5.0%-3.4 pointsMangaung4.4%-4.0 pointseThekwini4.2%-4.2 pointsEkurhuleni4.1%-4.3 pointsLimpopo: The second-highest performer in property inflation
The price inflation per province followed a similar pattern. Property price inflation in the Western Cape reached 12.6% between March 2025 and March 2026.
Next on the list is Limpopo with 11.8% property inflation.
The province is seeing a surge in sales and interest because it offers value for money.
Polokwane, the province’s capital city, has an average home price of R1.3 million, according to Property24. In suburbs like Serala View, with access to hospitals, malls, and other conveniences, the average price is only R1 million.