Rent in the Free State remains the cheapest despite the increase.
It seems South Africans’ wallets can never catch a break, as average residential rent increased by R411 in 2025, putting pressure on already strained household budgets.
The latest PayProp Rental Index, released on Tuesday, shows that the country’s average rent during the fourth quarter of 2025 was R9 462, up R176 from the third quarter and R411 year-on-year.
The index provides a detailed view of the residential rent market. In the fourth quarter, average rent in the Western Cape increased to R11 894, making it the most expensive province to pay rent. While rent in the Free State remains the cheapest despite the increase.
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Residential rent in numbers
“Looking at the numbers, 2025 stands out as the most positive year for the rental sector in recent memory,” said Michelle Dickens, commercial director at PayProp.
“Rental prices increased in real terms across all four quarters, while tenant arrears remained at record or near-record lows throughout the year.”
According to the PayProp Rental Index, rental growth in the country remains above inflation; however, it continued to slow during the fourth quarter. Average rents grew by 4.5% in October, 4.8% in November, and 4.3% in December.
Residential rent drop
The report notes that the 4.5% (R411) year-on-year residential rent increase is the lowest since the first quarter of 2024, marking three consecutive quarters of slowing growth, with a sharper decline in the fourth quarter than the 0.1% decrease in the third.
PayProp has attributed this slow increase in rent to 25-basis-point interest-rate cuts per quarter in 2025.
“The PayInc Take home Pay Index for October shows that real-terms net pay growth was just 1% year-on-year,” read the report. “Coupled with rising municipal rates, a weak job market, and high cost of living, this has put pressure on tenants’ incomes, reducing their tolerance for higher rental growth.”
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Tenants in arrears
Compared with the third quarter of 2025, all provinces saw an increase in rental growth, according to the PayProp Rental Index.
The index found that the share of tenants in arrears decreased again in the fourth quarter. “17% of tenants were in arrears during the quarter, close to the all-time low of 16.9% recorded in the second quarter of 2025,” read the report.
“Meanwhile, the average arrears percentage fell to a new record low of 71.3%. The previous low set in the third quarter was 72.6%.”
Rent per province
Here’s the average rent per province, from most expensive to cheapest:
- Western Cape – R11 894
- Northern Cape – R10 393
- Gauteng – R9 465
- KwaZulu-Natal – R9 456
- Limpopo – R9 246
- Mpumalanga – R8 565
- Eastern Cape – R7 660
- North West – R7 557
- Free State – R7 500
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