George city area housing market study

Developed in 2021, the draft Western Cape Inclusionary Housing Policy Framework provides a guide for municipalities to develop local policies which harness inclusionary housing as a mechanism to promote better located affordable housing in towns and cities, in partnership with the private sector. As a first step to determining if inclusionary housing has the potential to be an effective policy tool in the local municipal context, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the residential property market in the municipality. Given that many local governments do not have the means to undertake this detailed analysis themselves, the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP) in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements appointed CAHF to deliver housing market studies for identified urban areas of George, Stellenbosch, Mossel Bay and Drakenstein municipalities.

This report is therefore an analysis of the George city area residential property market including; housing supply and demand assessments; and analysis of the affordability gap, and is intended to provide the intelligence needed to ensure an evidence-led understanding of the housing market. The demand and supply side assessments of the residential property market in the George city area present a lopsided profile, with large numbers of units at the bottom end of the housing ladder as a result of public investment in fully-subsidized housing. Depending on whether one refers to the George Valuation Roll or the Lightstone deeds data, roughly 20-35% of properties are luxury houses valued over R1.2 million, another 25% are in the middle layer between R300 000 and R1.2 million, and the remaining 40-55% are at the bottom end, valued below R300 000.