Clear trends, real numbers, and what they mean for property owners. In this article we take a look at the latest Deeds Office data to provide you with a concise overview of the key forces shaping the Cape Town property market.
Cape Town’s Market Remains Strong (and Increasingly Global)
As we wrap up 2025, one thing is clear: Cape Town’s property market no longer behaves like the rest of South Africa. It is increasingly shaped by the same forces that drive prices in global lifestyle cities. Unlike most South African metros, Cape Town’s growth is underpinned by permanent land scarcity and global lifestyle demand — a combination more typical of cities like Sydney, Vancouver, or Barcelona than its local counterparts.
This year, Cape Town again featured prominently in international rankings of the world’s most desirable cities, reinforcing its global appeal. That recognition matters: it underpins ongoing demand from foreign buyers who are less constrained by local economic conditions.
For local buyers, however, affordability has increasingly become a challenge.
Sectional Title vs Full Title — Different Paths, Same Destination
Both Sectional Title (apartments) and Full Title (houses) markets performed well in 2025, but for different reasons.
Average selling prices for Sectional Title and Full Title properties are now the same (R 2 100 000). Since 2021, average Full Title prices have increased by about 13.5%, while Sectional Title prices have risen by roughly 40%.
That headline figure needs context though, as much of the apartment price growth came off a depressed base following sharp declines in 2019 and 2020. In fact, average Sectional Title prices have only just moved meaningfully beyond their 2018 peaks, while Full Title prices have climbed steadily over the entire period.
Sectional Title growth has been driven by strong investor demand, improved rental yields, and the popularity of short-term letting in certain areas. Full Title properties, meanwhile, continue to appeal to families and semigrants looking for space, security, and long-term lifestyle value.
Interest Rates — Past the Peak and Back to “Normal”
There were four interest rate cuts in 2025, bringing the prime lending rate down from 11.25% at the beginning of the year to 10.25% in November. This puts interest rates roughly back to where they were pre-COVID.
These cuts have improved affordability and boosted buyer confidence, although the impact has varied by suburb and price point. Entry-level and mid-market suburbs, where buyers are more reliant on finance, tend to respond more quickly to rate changes. Prime suburbs, by contrast, are typically less sensitive, with buyers' decision making driven more by lifestyle and long-term positioning than monthly repayments.
Suburb Comparison — Where Performance Has Been Strongest
Average price growth across Cape Town has been uneven, with clear winners in 2025:
Sectional Title price growth (2024–2025):
City Bowl: +4.5%
Atlantic Seaboard: +14.3%
Blaauwberg Coast: +2.5%
Southern Suburbs: +6.9%
Northern Suburbs: +6.3%
Cape Peninsula: +33.9%
Full Title price growth (2024–2025):
City Bowl: -4.3%
Atlantic Seaboard: +31.0%
Blaauwberg Coast: +6.7%
Southern Suburbs: +5.3%
Northern Suburbs: +6.3%
Cape Peninsula: +9.8%
To put this into perspective: a R1 million apartment bought in the Atlantic Seaboard in 2024 would be worth around R1.143 million today, while a R1 million apartment bought in the City Bowl would be worth R1.045 million.
Lifestyle-driven areas such as the Atlantic Seaboard and Cape Peninsula have continued to command strong demand, supported by global interest, lifestyle appeal, and limited supply. The Northern Suburbs and Blaauwberg Coast, meanwhile, have benefited more directly from affordability-driven demand and semigration, offering buyers relative value and space compared to more
Rental Market — High Rents, Little Relief
The rental market remained exceptionally tight throughout 2025, with rising rents continuing to support rising property values across most parts of Cape Town.
Strong demand — boosted by semigration, foreign tenants, and South Africa’s digital nomad visa — has kept rentals elevated. At the same time, short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb have removed a significant number of properties from the long-term rental pool, increasing competition for available rentals and placing additional pressure on local tenants. Did you know that Cape Town’s Airbnb marketplace is not only the largest in Africa, but also one of the largest globally?
Looking ahead, it is increasingly likely that short-term letting will face some form of regulation. While such measures could help ease affordability pressures at the margins, global experience suggests that overly restrictive regulation can have unintended consequences. These include reduced investment, and a slowdown in new development —which ultimately worsens supply shortages.
Other potential side effects include the growth of informal or grey rental markets and job losses in tourism-related sector. Given that tourism is a major contributor to Cape Town’s economy, these risks need to be carefully weighed.
Internationally, cities that have managed affordability pressures most effectively have taken a balanced approach — pairing measured regulation with efforts to expand housing supply rather than relying on restrictions alone.
Supply in Cape Town — The Core Issue?
Limited supply remains the single biggest constraint in Cape Town’s property market, and the data clearly reflects this imbalance:
Property24 Listings
Market | Jan 2025 | Dec 2025 | |
Cape Town | 9,088 | 7,077 | –22.1% |
South Africa | 428,902 | 416,825 | –2.8% |
While national listings declined modestly over the year, Cape Town experienced a far steeper drop in available stock. This widening gap highlights how acute the supply shortage has become in the city compared to the rest of the country. With Cape Town hemmed in by mountains and coastline, land scarcity is not cyclical — it is structural.
For sellers, this scarcity has created favourable conditions, particularly in established and well-located suburbs where new supply is limited. Well-priced properties continue to attract strong interest, often selling within a few days of listing. New developments are selling out quickly too, sometimes within hours of launching.
In response, the City of Cape Town has stepped up efforts to unlock new housing supply. This includes closer collaboration with the private sector to speed up planning approvals, encouraging higher-density development along key transport corridors, and investing in bulk infrastructure upgrades to support future growth. The City has also placed greater emphasis on affordable and inclusionary housing initiatives aimed at improving access for middle- and lower-income households. While these measures are necessary, they will take time to translate into meaningful additional stock — particularly in established, high-demand areas.
What This Means for Sellers
Many of the forces shaping 2025 — densification, lifestyle-driven demand, and the push for more inclusive housing — are structural rather than cyclical, suggesting that Cape Town’s divergence from the national market is unlikely to reverse soon. Global demand, limited supply, resilient rental markets, and improving interest rate conditions continue to support prices — particularly in well-located suburbs where new supply is constrained. For property owners, this means that quality assets remain well positioned for long-term capital growth and solid rental returns.
At the same time, the market is becoming more nuanced: performance varies meaningfully by suburb, property type, and price point, making correct pricing, timing, and presentation more important than ever. While policy changes around rentals and housing supply will shape the market in the years ahead, Cape Town’s core appeal as a global lifestyle city remains intact.
If you’d like a tailored valuation, suburb-specific insight, or a confidential discussion about selling in the year ahead, we’d be happy to assist.
Wishing you and your family a restful festive season and a successful year ahead!
