Rental vacancies rise BUT tenant reliability improves – report

Africa Melane speaks to TPN Credit Bureau Head of Marketing Waldo Marcus.

Listen below.

While residential vacancies rose from 4.42% to 6.72% in Q2/2024, tenant reliability is improving.  

According to the TPN’s latest Residential Vacancy Report, despite challenging financial conditions, 83% of tenants remain in good standing.

“That means more than eight out of 10 tenants have met their full rental obligation by the end of the month. This bodes well for landlords and property investors.” 

- Waldo Marcus,TPN 

Rental increases also slowed down, particularly in the R3000 to R7000 bracket.

“Property investors have made a very conscious decision managing these rental escalations to ensure that their property is rather occupied than standing vacant… It shows us investors are very aware of what consumers are undergoing.”

- Waldo Marcus,TPN

The squat index remains low at 3.71%. This index refers to tenants who fail to make rental payments for three consecutive months. 

“It's four out of 100 tenants… In some cases, these are landlords being understanding and they allow for the tenants to stay... [others] are tenants taking advantage by trying to stay in that property for as long as possible while the landlord is seeking legal channels to evict that individual.” 

- Waldo Marcus,TPN

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.