Notes on the South African property market.
The tools agents run, what the portals charge them for, and what property markets elsewhere built before ours. Every number sourced, every gap named.
Nine sellers, one address: prices run from R48 to R235 a report. What each one shows, how long it takes, and where findproperly's R99 sits.
7 min readWestern Cape landlords circulate lists of vacant commercial space to brokers, priced per square metre. Where vacancy schedules live, and how to read one.
5 min readA London startup, Find Properly, shared our name until a rival bought it in 2014. Its sale opens a sourced history of Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.
6 min readHow many estate agents in South Africa? The regulator's own planning document admits no full database of practitioners. Nobody has an official count.
4 min readProperty24 vs Private Property vs MyProperty: how each portal charges SA agencies in 2026, and which one hasn't shown a rate card since March 2020.
4 min readEstate agency software in South Africa, 2026: what Property24, PropCtrl, Lightstone and WinDeed cost, with every price dated to its source.
6 min readWhat is a CMA? A comparative market analysis prices a home against nearby sales. How to read them, and what Lightstone, WinDeed and CMAInfo charge in 2026.
6 min readThe Zillow Zestimate explained: where it's accurate, where it isn't, and how the $881 million Zillow Offers bet collapsed. Notes for SA agents.
6 min readIn 2023 the Competition Commission found the property portals charging rate gaps of more than 300% with no cost basis. Here's what its inquiry changed.
4 min readProperty24's top tier rose 374% between 2014 and 2020. The 2026 rate card runs from R656 to R84 256 a month. Here's what agencies pay, tier by tier.
4 min readWork the PPRA's own register numbers and the average SA estate agency comes out at about 3 qualified agents. Most industry advice is written for giants.
3 min readSouth Africa has 6,202 registered estate agency firms on the PPRA's books. The full provincial table, and why 83% sit in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KZN.
4 min read