Browsing by Author "Govender, Evashnie"

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    The impact of housing costs on household income across primary and secondary areas in South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-02) Govender, Evashnie; Geyer, Herman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa is a country faced with considerable discrepancies in housing costs, property values and income distribution across various geographical areas. Housing is the largest expenditure component in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the CPI not only measures the changes in price levels of goods and services but also tracks the inflation rate of the country. The importance of housing in the CPI indicates that South Africans pay more on housing than any other expenditure incurred which means that citizens sacrifice their spending on essential living needs and not afforded the ability to save adequately. This research examines housing costs and household income of South Africans across the various primary and secondary areas in the country in order to provide theories to the area of study by drawing conclusions from the data presented and to help policymakers and users to plan, draw up policies and aid in decision making. Regression analysis is applied to analyse the effect of variables such as age, sex, income and location on housing costs. The average income earned by males is higher than females with males spending more on housing than females. At quintile level of analysis on income and housing costs, results show that women in lower quintiles pay more on housing than men. As the age of the head of a household increases, the share of income spent on housing decreases with age. The rental importance by dwelling type revealed that houses are the most dominant dwelling type for South African’s as more people choose to live in houses compared to flats and townhouses even though townhouses are in high demand, particularly in the metropolitan areas of the country. Demand and supply of housing is a major contributor to rental inflation, and higher inflation rates were predominantly present in areas where supply could not meet demand, pushing up housing prices and placing pressure on households in terms of affordability. The research found that income holds a strong statistically significant negative relationship with a small variance indicating that as income increases the share of income spent on housing decreases.