Home growth is coming from unexpected areas of South Africa.
Image: ChatGPT
Cape Town continues to pull ahead of South Africa’s major housing markets, with property prices in the Western Cape rising nearly twice as fast as in Gauteng.
But the biggest gains are emerging in some of the country’s more unexpected property hotspots.
New data from Statistics South Africa shows that while the Western Cape continues to dominate the country’s largest housing markets, Limpopo recorded the fastest house price growth in South Africa.
To put that into perspective, a home worth R1 million a year ago would now cost about R1.19 million in Limpopo – the biggest jump among all provinces. Limpopo was also the biggest gainer in the stats three months ago.
The national housing market also continued to gain momentum. Residential property prices rose 6.8% year on year in October 2025.
This means that a home valued at R1 million a year earlier would now be worth roughly R1.07 million, according to Statistics South Africa’s Residential Property Price Index.
Among the country’s largest property markets, the Western Cape recorded price growth of 9.1%, meaning a R1 million home a year ago would now be worth roughly R1.09 million.
“Property remains a long-term investment,” Bradd Bendall, national head of sales for BetterBond has said.
Lightstone data has shown that young adults aged 20-35 accounted for almost 30% of all property transactions in 2024, with 17% of them paying between R1 million and R1.5 million.
How a R1 million house has grown in value from a year ago.
Image: ChatGPT
Gauteng, which accounts for the largest share of housing transactions in South Africa, recorded slower price growth of 4.6%. A home worth R1 million a year earlier would now be valued at about R1.05 million.
The gap is also visible in metropolitan markets, where house prices in the City of Cape Town grew roughly twice as fast as in Johannesburg over the past year.
However, the strongest price gains are coming from smaller provinces.
Limpopo recorded the fastest increase in the country at 18.9%, followed by the Northern Cape at 15.3%.
The trend mirrors earlier patterns in the housing market. Reporting earlier this year showed that the Northern Cape had quietly delivered some of the best property returns in South Africa, with price growth far outpacing the national average despite the province’s relatively small housing market.
Previous analysis also highlighted how house price inflation has been steadily lifting property values across the country.
The latest figures also suggest that much of the price pressure in the housing market is coming from existing homes rather than newly built properties.
Prices for resold homes increased 7.4% year on year in October, compared with 3.3% growth for homes sold for the first time – a gap of more than four percentage points.
Sectional title properties, such as apartments and townhouses, recorded price growth of 6.9%, while freehold homes, including stand-alone houses, increased by 7.2% over the same period.
Statistics South Africa compiles the Residential Property Price Index using transaction data from the Deeds Office, tracking property prices across provinces and metropolitan areas.
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