Cape Town real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend
- Average price: $2,442 / m²
- 12-month price change (USD): 16.7%
- Transaction cost: 14%
- Bubble-risk band: moderate
- Price basis: local-market average
Cape Town is one of the faster-moving markets Glopra tracks: the average residential square metre now costs $2,442, +16.7% in dollar terms over the last twelve months. That makes it the 55th most expensive of the 83 markets in the set. In local currency the same twelve months read +11%; the 5.7-point gap is the exchange rate, not the housing market.
What a buyer pays in Cape Town
The $2,442 figure is a local-market average across all residential property types: a flat in a prime district sits well above it, an older unit on the edge of the market well below. Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 14% of the price here. On a 100 m² apartment at the average price that is roughly $34,182 on top of the $244,160 purchase price. That is above the 10.2% median across the set — the entry cost is part of the investment case here. Against the South Africa national average of $1,149, Cape Town carries a 112.5% premium — the gap between this market and the country as a whole.
What it earns
We publish a price for Cape Town but no rental yield. No public rent figure exists for this market at the same geographic level and from the same source as the price, and we do not estimate one: a yield built from two unrelated sources would describe no real property.
How the tax works. Progressive: a non-resident's South African rental income is taxed on the ordinary scale from 18%, with the ZAR 17,820 primary rebate and no flat expense allowance, which gives 9–22% across typical rent levels. The upper end of 25% covers the case where the rebate is denied to a non-resident — the Act does not appear to require that, but SARS has not confirmed it, so local confirmation is advisable. Source: sars.gov.za.
Where the price sits against its own history
Prices are +2.6% over five years in local terms. Today’s level is within 6.2% of the country’s own long-run trend, so the price is close to where its own history would put it. Glopra’s bubble-risk score for Cape Town is 52 out of 100 — moderate risk. Of the 58 markets scored, 40 read higher.
Cape Town house price index, 2020–2025 (2020 = 100)
| Year | Index |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 100 |
| 2021 | 107 |
| 2022 | 113 |
| 2023 | 114.6 |
| 2024 | 120.5 |
| 2025 | 132.9 |
Rebased to 100 in 2020, the index stands at 132.9 in 2025. The series is in local currency, and the twelve-month numbers above show how much of that a dollar buyer actually keeps.
Who can buy in Cape Town
Full freehold, few restrictions. That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.
How this figure is built
The price figure for Cape Town is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-09-28. We rate our confidence in this market’s data low — treat the figures as indicative and check them before acting. We recompute every market the same way, which is what lets Cape Town be compared with a country average or another city.
Sources: StatsSA RPPI P0160 April 2026, Table 4 (City of Cape Town metro) · statssa.gov.za · globalpropertyguide.com · airroi.com. Snapshot: 2026-09-28.
Latest Cape Town market analysis
- South Africa Raised Its Repo Rate to 7.25% Even After the Economy Shrank in the Second Quarter — 2026-09-24
- South African Building Plans Rose 6.3% This Year While Completed Buildings Fell 10.7% — 2026-09-18
- South African Home Loans Granted Rose 4.1% in July as the Deposit Burden Eased — 2026-08-15
Related markets: South Africa