The PayProp Rental Index Annual Market Report for 2021 reports a welcome uptick in rental growth in Q4 2021. The average residential rent increased by 0.8% year on year, from R7,854 per month in Q4 2020 to R7,906 in Q4 2021.
Except for a slight increase in Q4, the average arrears percentage improved similarly. “A possible explanation for the Q4 exception could be that tenants held back some of their December rent to afford increased expenses during the festive season,” said Smuts. This metric measured 82.7% in Q4, still above the more normal 78.5% seen in pre-pandemic Q1 2020.Nationally, tenants spent 45.3% of their income on debt repayments in Q4 2021, up from 40% the year before.
Rent in the Western Cape increased by 1.7% from Q4 2020 to Q4 2021, ending with an average rent of R9,413. The Western Cape also outperformed all other provinces in both arrears metrics. Just 15.1% of tenants were in arrears in Q4 2021, down from 17.2% in Q1 and coming in below the 18.4% of tenants nationwide.