The City of Cape Town is obviously an attractive area, if only because it provides decent access to all the basic services one needs to get by in this country.

Just look at this – according to Business Tech, the CBD alone has:

12 museums, three libraries, 209 eateries, 96 medical practices, 69 bars and clubs, four theatres, 627 retail outlets, 25 places of worship and 40 health facilities.

Not too shabby for such a small area.

However, those needing access to these and other basic services can no longer afford to buy in the area, and are thus unable to make full use of these facilities outside working hours, details a new report:

This is because this demographic cannot afford to own homes in or nearby the City, which means that additional trips to and from the CBD are both costly and time consuming.

You see, on average, an apartment within the 57 residential complexes in the CBD costs around R2,34 million, explains another report, this one by the Central City Improvement District – a private–public partnership formed by CBD property owners:

With middle income earners making between R15 000 and R50 000 per month (based on figures from the Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing at UCT), they can only afford a maximum home purchase price of R 1.5 million – leaving them without an entry point into the CBD property market.

And that’s without looking at rental prices.

So it should be no surprise that those who cannot afford to live in the CBD, yet have found employment in the area, are spending between 15% and 19% of their budget on transport, and:

With the petrol price is set to increase by up to seven cents a litre, it is soon unlikely that they would be able to shell out even more money to travel to the City Centre to experience its after hour’s offerings, said PropertyWheel.

Heartbreak – this is a call to sort out the public transport!

So while you might be sitting pretty, turning up your nose at those battling with the City for low income housing, it soon might be you moving out of your home because of seemingly unfair increases of rates and levies as demand for areas outside of the CBD rise.

We really need to start looking towards the future, or else the water shortage won’t be our only problem.

[source:businesstech]