The City of Cape Town claims to offer the lowest property rates for Commercial, Industrial, and Residential properties, based on an analysis of the 2025/26 draft budgets tabled by each metro.
The rate-in-rand is a statutory formula used by municipalities to calculate property rates. The formula shows how much a person would pay in rates for every rand of their property value.
Based on this formula, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis stated that the city offers the lowest property rates of all metros for both residents and businesses in 2025/26.
The next metro, Joburg, is 42% higher for commercial and industrial property rates, and 33% higher for residential property rates.
Despite significantly lower rates than Joburg, Cape Town will invest 63% more in infrastructure over the next three years (R39.7 billion vs R24.3 billion).
“Cape Town is building a city of hope for all, where residents actually get the services they pay for in contrast to the decline sadly visible in other cities. We are investing a South African-record R39.7 billion in infrastructure over the next three years for better water and sanitation, roads, electricity services, public transport and more,” said Hill-Lewis.
“This will ensure our city is an even better place to live in future as we prepare to cross the five-million mark to become SA’s most populous metro. With this new budget, the city is also making the biggest ever single-year safety investment, with over 700 new municipal police officers to be deployed across the metro, in every ward.”
The city has published data showing that for every R1 in property rates, Cape Town residents help to fund:
- Policing, Traffic, Fire and Disaster services (29 cents)
- Infrastructure investment (14 cents)
- Free and subsidised services to the poor (15 cents)
- Customer care, IT and service delivery (15 cents)
- Parks, public spaces, environment and libraries (13 cents)
- MyCiTi public transport (six cents)
- Economic growth, tourism and informal trading programmes (four cents)
- City clinics and health services (four cents)
Cape Town is set to launch a new Ease of Doing Business Index to track and improve ten critical indicators for ease of doing business, including building plan approvals, land-use rights, rates clearance certificates, and connections to electricity and water.
The city’s property rates will increase by 7.96% for 2025/26 to help fund the major safety and infrastructure investments, with the metro offering the widest qualifying criteria for rates and indigent relief as at 2024/25, including:
- Highest Free Water allocation (15KL)
- Widest qualifying criteria for 100% rates rebate (R450 000 property value, <R7 500 monthly income)
- Widest qualifying criteria for lifeline electricity (R500 000 property value, <R7 500 monthly income)
- Pensioners: widest rebate and lifeline electricity criteria (<R22 000 monthly income, regardless of property value)
Eskom’s 11.32% increase to municipalities nationally will also be limited to just 2% in Cape Town, made possible by discontinuing the 10% cost of each electricity unit to fund other city services, such as area cleaning.
Instead, city-wide cleaning services will be funded by a ring-fenced tariff, the impact of which is buffered by the savings in electricity costs. This reform is aligned with the broader National Treasury-led Trading Service Reform Programme, which has a key objective, within the waste management space, to ensure services are sustainably funded via ring-fenced tariffs, as with other utility services.
Residential Property
| Metro | Rate-in-Rand | % Higher Than Cape Town |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Town | 0.007159 | – |
| Johannesburg | 0.009545 | 33% |
| Tshwane | 0.010117 | 41% |
| Mangaung | 0.011068 | 55% |
| Ekurhuleni | 0.011520 | 61% |
| Ethekwini | 0.014254 | 99% |
| Buffalo City | 0.015122 | 111% |
Commercial Property
| Metro | Rate-in-Rand | % Higher Than Cape Town |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Town | 0.016824 | – |
| Ekurhuleni | 0.023050 | 37% |
| Johannesburg | 0.023862 | 42% |
| Tshwane | 0.029300 | 74% |
| Ethekwini | 0.036234 | 115% |
| Mangaung | 0.037642 | 124% |
| Buffalo City | 0.037804 | 125% |
Industrial Property
| Metro | Rate-in-Rand | % Higher Than Cape Town |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Town | 0.016824 | – |
| Johannesburg | 0.023862 | 42% |
| Ekurhuleni | 0.028810 | 71% |
| Tshwane | 0.029300 | 74% |
| Mangaung | 0.037642 | 124% |
| Buffalo City | 0.037804 | 125% |
| Ethekwini | 0.047200 | 181% |
