Young, Black and Moving to the Suburbs | Property News | Market Updates

Young, Black and Moving to the Suburbs

Inroads are being made into apartheid-era divisions in the property market, with increased numbers of township professionals moving into former white suburbs to rent or buy

Experts say the migration is taking place in the search for access to services such as shopping malls, schools, health care and transport.

Prof John Simpson, director at the University of Cape Town's Unilever Institute, said statistics showed an increasing number of black people from middle-income groups moving into the suburbs from townships such as Gugulethu and Khayelitsha in Cape Town.

But, he said, those that moved always found a way to visit the townships from where they came, usually on weekends.

Statistics from TNS Research Surveys indicate an increase in Black Diamonds – those black professionals in the middle and upper-income ranges – living in suburbs, according to information provided by senior research executive Nomsa Khanyile.

With an estimated 2,6m Black Diamonds and 47% of these already living in suburbs, the number of arriving Black Diamonds was estimated at 50,000 per month, or about 12,000 to 14,000 households per month.

Interestingly, the data indicates that 42% of Black Diamonds currently living in suburbs would prefer to live in townships, raising questions about the availability of property in township areas.

TNS Research Surveys director Ivan Motlogeloa said if shopping malls and more facilities were available in townships then many people would not migrate because they would have options available to them.

Thando Ncanywa (27), a team leader at Citizen Relation Management who comes from Khayelitsha but now lives in Claremont, said he had made the move for security reasons and to be able to access a "better life".

He said transport is difficult in Khayelitsha and there are no facilities like gyms.
Suburbs are more convenient and secure because of private security and he was able to go out until late at night.

Although he was paying R2,200 to rent a bachelor flat in Claremont - as opposed to the R450 he had been paying in Khayelitsha - the price was worth paying.

Nick Hill from ERA International said the migration of black people into suburbs was becoming a "natural South African situation".

He said many black professionals were able to pay in the R3m range for property in suburbs because they wanted a "better quality of life" for themselves and their children.

West Cape News, 26-11-2007

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