Soweto dominates township big three as Khayelitsha trails behind

• Soweto leads in population, income, and property values among SA’s top townships.
• Khayelitsha grows fastest but lags in wealth and formal housing.
• Umlazi shows moderate growth, reflecting mixed development and migration dynamics.

Introduction: South Africa’s Largest Townships in Focus

While Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban dominate property headlines, their largest townships Soweto, Umlazi and Khayelitsha - reflect a different yet crucial side of South Africa’s housing story.

These sprawling communities house hundreds of thousands of residents, shaping the future of urban living as much as the city centres themselves.

Five Township Takeaways

As Hayley Ivins-Downes, Lightstone Managing Executive Real Estate & Director at Prop Data, explains: “Townships like Soweto, Umlazi and Khayelitsha reflect South Africa’s urban reality in ways that city skylines cannot. Soweto’s scale and maturity give it an edge, while Khayelitsha’s growth highlights the Western Cape’s pull.
Understanding these dynamics is critical, because the future of South Africa’s property market is as much about our townships as it is about our cities.”

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City definitions as they relate to maps

Population and Demographics

• Soweto (Johannesburg): Around 1.5 million residents, the oldest and most established township, with deep cultural roots and a growing middle class.
• Umlazi (Durban): Around 486,000 residents, Durban’s largest township, established in the 1960s, with mixed urban development and high outward migration.
• Khayelitsha (Cape Town): Around 520,000 residents, founded in the mid-1980s, fast-growing due to inward migration, but dominated by informal housing.

Population

Adults make up 75% of Soweto and Khayelitsha, but only 66% in Umlazi, reflecting Umlazi’s outward migration of young adults. Over the past decade, Soweto’s adult population grew 25%, Umlazi’s 10%, and Khayelitsha’s surged 40%.

Household Income Townships

Household Income and Wealth Gap

• Soweto: Wealthiest of the three. Over 20% of households earn more than R13,000/month. Only ~20% earn below R6,500.
• Umlazi: Middle ground, with ~45% of households earning less than R6,500/month.
• Khayelitsha: Poorest, with almost 60% of households under R6,500/month and very limited higher-income earners.

By contrast, nearby cities show far greater wealth: in Johannesburg, over 70% of households earn more than R13,000/month.

Household income City‍

‍Property Values and Activity

• Soweto: Average property value of R585,000. Ratio of households to formal deeds: 2.25:1. Around 1,600 homes valued over R1m.
• Umlazi: Average property value of R560,000, with a 3.2:1 household-to-deeds ratio.
• Khayelitsha: Lowest values, averaging R350,000, with most homes between R200k and R400k, and no properties above R1m. Household-to-deeds ratio: 3.3:1.

Property values

Property transfers tell the story of maturity vs. growth: Soweto records the most transactions but has seen volumes decline over a decade. Khayelitsha enjoyed a surge in transfers from 2018 to 2022 before softening, while Umlazi has remained relatively subdued.

Property transfers

The Bigger Picture

‍Soweto’s maturity, infrastructure and rising middle class give it a decisive edge, but Khayelitsha’s rapid growth highlights the continued migration to the Western Cape even though affordability remains a major barrier. Umlazi reflects Durban’s mixed economic reality, caught between opportunity and outward migration.

Townships may lack the skyscrapers and glossy brochures of the cities, but they remain the real pulse of South Africa’s property market resilient, dynamic, and central to the country’s long-term housing evolution.

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