PayProp Rental Index: Rental growth levels off in Q3

Average rents grew by 4.9% year on year in Q3 2025, ensuring ongoing real-terms returns for landlords and agents.

Data from the Q3 2025 PayProp Rental Index, now available to download, shows that the average rent reached R9 286 in Q3 – R430 more than a year earlier.

Crucially, rental growth was above inflation for the fifth quarter in a row, improving the profitability of property investments.  

However, growth slowed from 5.0% last quarter while inflation picked up, which narrowed landlords’ and agents’ margins somewhat.

The share of tenants in arrears also climbed to 17.2% – not far off record lows by any stretch, but still the highest since Q3 2024.

The provincial view

As always, there were big difference in how the provinces performed.

• Gauteng rallied by recent Gauteng standards – recording 3.0% rental growth year on year after only managing 2.4% in Q2. Still, this was enough to give it the third highest rents in SA once again, after it lost this position to KwaZulu-Natal last quarter.

• Meanwhile, Limpopo notched up its fourth straight quarter of double-digit growth. Rents grew by 10.9% year on year in Q3, and could now quite possibly overtake Gauteng and KZN next quarter.

• Year-on-year growth in the Western Cape slackened off a little from last quarter, but the 7.0% recorded was still well above the 4.9% average. The Western Cape remains SA’s most expensive province for tenants, who now pay an average of R11 635 per month.

• Mpumalanga became the first province since Q1 2024 to post negative rental growth. The average rent there fell by 0.2% year on year, marking a fifth straight quarter in which the province recorded the lowest growth in the country.

You can find a full breakdown of provincial rents, growth and arrears in the latest PayProp Rental Index. This issue also brings you an in-depth look at damage deposits and some proven profitability strategies from the PayProp Success Team. Download your free copy now.