Latest news with #Ivins-Downes
IOL News
02-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
How the housing crisis impacts low-income families in South Africa
An artist's impression of the proposed housing projects on Highlands Drive. Image: Supplied As Minister Thembi Simelane tables the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) budget vote on Wednesday, South Africa's low-income households contend with an acute shortage of formal housing stock. According to data analysed by Lightstone, a provider of analytics and systems on property, there was one property for 4.8 households earning under R13 000 a month. The ratio improved to 3.3 households for every one formal property if the salary threshold moved to R26 000 a month, said Hayley Ivins-Downes, the managing executive for real estate at Lightstone Property. For higher income groups, this ratio was closer to 1.2 to 1. 'Either way, more than 80% of South Africa's households earned under R26 000 per month, which meant affordability remained a major obstacle to most households having a property to call their own,' Ivins-Downes said. The property market intelligence provider said there were nearly 12 million households earning less than R13 000 a month, with just under 2.5 million properties available if households stuck to the guideline that they spend no more than a third of their income on housing. Ivins-Downes said this was the most significant gap between households and property available by some distance. 'For example, there were another 2.5 million households earning between R13 000 and R26 000 per month, but there were 1.8m properties available, which translated into 1.3 households for every property available.' Interestingly, there were more properties available than households in the R26 000 to R40 000 salary range. In Johannesburg, couples without matric were said to find affordable stock in areas such as Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central and Orange Farm, while couples with degrees would be buying in suburbs such as Morningside, North Riding and Weltevreden Park. The Fact Sheet that draws the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders to the progress made by South Africans in terms of their highest levels of educational attainment (HLEA), said the proportion of the 25–64-year-old population that had secondary (Grade 12 or equivalent) as the HLEA increased from 27.4% in 2015 to 33.0% in 2023. Persons with the certificates in 2023 of the 25–64-year-old group were at about 3.3%. In 2023, about 6.0% of South Africans aged 25-64 years had a diploma as their HLEA, while 7.3% of this age group had a degree as their HLEA. The largest proportion of the population aged 25–64 years (36.7%) had some secondary education as their HLEA, while 12.4% of persons in this age group had primary education or less than primary as their HLEA. Lightstone said their insights underscored the need for integrated housing, education, and economic policies to address the real barriers facing South Africa's lower-income households. In May, RB Property Group said it advocated for a multi-sectoral approach to housing, one that not only builds homes but also builds communities. The property industry player said it believes that the key to transforming South Africa's housing crisis lies in moving the majority of LSM 1-3 households into LSM 4-6 through job creation, enterprise development, and skills training. It said this requires aligning housing development with sustainable job creation, skills development, and long-term economic participation. Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel. Cape Argus
IOL News
01-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
South Africa's low-income households face severe housing shortage: a call for action
South Africa is facing a national housing backlog of approximately 2.4 million units. Image: Supplied As Minister Thembi Simelane tables the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) budget vote on Wednesday, South Africa's low-income households contend with an acute shortage of formal housing stock. According to data analysed by Lightstone, a provider of comprehensive data, analytics and systems on property, automotive and business assets, there was one property for 4.8 households earning under R13 000 a month. The ratio improved to 3.3 households for every one formal property if the salary threshold moved to R26 000 a month, says Hayley Ivins-Downes, the Managing Executive Real Estate, Lightstone Property. For higher income groups, this ratio was closer to 1.2 to 1. 'But either way, more than 80% of South Africa's households earned under R26 000 per month, which meant affordability remained a major obstacle to most households having a property to call their own,' Ivins-Downes said. The property market intelligence provider said there were nearly 12 million households earning less than R13 000 a month (see graph below), with just under 2.5 million properties available if households stuck to the guideline that they spend no more than a third of their income on housing. Ivins-Downes said this was the most significant gap between households and property available by some distance. 'For example, there were another 2.5 million households earning between R13 000 and R26 000 per month, but there were 1.8m properties available, which translated into 1.3 households for every property available.' Interestingly, there were more properties available than households in the R26 000 to R40 000 salary range. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The managing executive said this, then pushed many into backyard rentals, informal structures or traditional dwellings that were not formally registered- and often these options were further away from work than is ideal. 'In many towns, lower-income working people struggled most to find accommodation while property values rose for the more affluent.' For homes valued under R300 000- 80% of which were subsidised- only 1% had been bought or sold in the last five years compared to 4% in the R300 000 to R500 000 price band, 6% in the R500 000 to R750 000 price band and 13% in the R750 000 to R2m price band. Ivins-Downes said the data showed that not only was there a significant shortage of affordable housing, but there were proportionately fewer transactions among lower-income earners, limiting mobility, equity growth, and broader economic participation. The company said an analysis of the data showed that the more education households have, the more likely they are to be able to buy houses in higher price bands. 'For example, a household with two working people who did not have a matric would likely be able to afford a house valued at R250 000, but this jumped to R380 000 where the two have a matric and to R1.8m when they have degrees,' Ivins-Downes said. She said mapping these affordability scenarios to actual suburbs showed how the difference in education-and consequently earning potential-affected housing choice. In Johannesburg, couples without matric were said to find affordable stock in areas such as Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central and Orange Farm, while couples with degrees would be buying in suburbs such as Morningside, North Riding and Weltevreden Park. The Fact Sheet that draws the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders to the progress made by South Africans in terms of their highest levels of educational attainment (HLEA), said the proportion of the 25–64-year-old population that had secondary (Grade 12 or equivalent) as the HLEA increased from 27.4% in 2015 to 33.0% in 2023. Persons with the certificates in 2023 of the 25–64-year-old group were at about 3.3%. In 2023, about 6.0% of South Africans aged 25-64 years had a diploma as their HLEA, while 7.3% of this age group had a degree as their HLEA. The largest proportion of the population aged 25–64 years (36.7%) had some secondary education as their HLEA, while 12.4% of persons in this age group had primary education or less than primary as their HLEA. Lightstone said their insights underscored the need for integrated housing, education, and economic policies to address the real barriers facing South Africa's lower-income households. In May, RB Property Group said it advocated for a multi-sectoral approach to housing, one that not only builds homes but also builds communities. The property industry player said it believes that the key to transforming South Africa's housing crisis lies in moving the majority of LSM 1-3 households into LSM 4-6 through job creation, enterprise development, and skills training. It said this requires aligning housing development with sustainable job creation, skills development, and long-term economic participation. According to the latest OECD Economic Survey of South Africa, released last month, South Africa has extraordinary growth potential, though low public investment and high costs of doing business have been holding back growth. It said major structural reforms are needed to boost productivity and advance the country towards meeting its goals of durably reducing poverty and unemployment. It projected that real GDP will grow by 1.3% this year and 1.4% in 2026. It added that unemployment will remain elevated, at close to 32% in 2026. Inflation is projected to decline to 3.2% in 2025 before increasing to 4.2% in 2026 as economic activity gains momentum. Prudent macroeconomic policies and structural reforms are central to durably boost productivity and employment, Luiz de Mello, the OECD Director of Country Studies, said then. The global policy forum said to unlock job creation, reform needs to ease barriers to business dynamism and align transport and housing policies and urban planning. It said this includes prioritising housing near public transport, promoting rental housing near city centres and reforming restrictive building regulations. Independent Media Property
TimesLIVE
01-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
How your education level affects where you live
There are nearly 12-million households earning less than R13,000 a month with just less than 2.5-million properties available if households stick to the guideline that they spend no more than a third of their income on housing. This is equal to one property for 4.8 households in this income band, showing how low-income households in South Africa face an acute shortage of formal housing stock, said Hayley Ivins-Downes, managing executive of real estate at analytics company Lightstone Property. The ratio improved to 3.3 households for every one formal property if the salary threshold moved to R26,000 a month. For higher income groups, this ratio was closer to 1.2 to 1. Most of South Africa's households earn less than R26,000 per month, which means affordability remains a major obstacle to most households having a property to call their own, Ivins-Downes said. This pushed many into backyard rentals, informal structures or traditional dwellings that weren't formally registered — and often these options were further away from work than is ideal. 'In many towns, lower income working people struggle most to find accommodation.' For homes valued at less than R300,000 — 80% of which were subsidised — only 1% had been bought or sold in the past five years compared with 4% in the R300,000 to R500,000 price band, 6% in the R500,000 to R750,000 price band and 13% in the R750,000 to R2m price band. 'The data told us that not only was there a significant shortage of affordable housing, but there were proportionately fewer transactions among lower income earners, limiting mobility, equity growth and broader economic participation,' Ivins-Downes said. The more education people have, the more likely they will be able to buy houses in higher price bands, the data also shows. 'A household with two working people who did not have matric would probably be able to afford a house valued at R250,000 — but this jumped to R380,000 where the two have a matric and to R1.8m when they have degrees,' she said. Mapping these affordability scenarios to suburbs showed how the difference in education — and consequently earning potential — affected housing choice. In Johannesburg, couples without matric found affordable stock in areas such as Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central and Orange Farm, while couples with degrees would be buying in suburbs such as Morningside, North Riding and Weltevreden Park. She said the insights underscored the need for integrated housing, education and economic policies to address the barriers facing lower income households.
