Cape Town municipal bills are rising faster than property values, sample analysis shows

Stephen Grootes speaks to Rebecca Davis, senior journalist at The Daily Maverick about why municipal bills in Cape Town are rising far faster than salaries and inflation, and what the city’s shifting tariff structure means for ordinary homeowners.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

Many Cape Town middle-class homeowners say their monthly municipal bills have steadily climbed over the past decade, sparking frustration and confusion.

To better understand the concern, Daily Maverick readers submitted municipal bills for the same properties from 2015/2016 and 2025/2026. The small sample included homes across a range of areas, including Claremont, Woodstock and the more affluent suburb of Constantia.

The review found that increases have affected every area examined.

The property rates portion alone rose by an average of about 170% across the sample. Over the same period, property values increased by roughly 131%.

This means rates, the tax homeowners pay based on property value have grown faster than the value of the properties themselves.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Rebecca Davis, senior journalist at The Daily Maverick says more households are feeling the cumulative effect of higher rates and fixed charges on their cost of living.

"People sometimes have little empathy because what they're imagining is some billionaire living in Bishop's Court on some gigantic property who's now faced with very high municipal bills. But what we found out is that a fairly large portion of the middle class in Cape Town who are really being squeezed by this."

- Rebecca Davis, senior journalist - The Daily Maverick

"It's people who inherited a house, thirty years ago when it was valued at very little, and are now faced, living on a fixed income with rates bills that are just exploding."

- Rebecca Davis, senior journalist - The Daily Maverick

"...the way in which these increases have been applied, has outstripped salary raises so much over the past decade. By our analysis, sometimes four or five times as much as salary increases."

- Rebecca Davis, senior journalist - The Daily Maverick

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.