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.
The software agencies actually run, what it costs and what it does once it's paid for.
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 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 read
Elsewhere in the guide
- The vacancy schedule, read properly
Western Cape landlords circulate lists of vacant commercial space to brokers, priced per square metre. Where vacancy schedules live, and how to read one.
- The other Findproperly, and the UK market that swallowed it
A 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.
- Nobody knows how many estate agents South Africa has. Not even the regulator
How many estate agents in South Africa? The regulator's own planning document admits no full database of practitioners. Nobody has an official count.
- Zillow tried to out-price every agent in America and lost $881m
The Zillow Zestimate explained: where it's accurate, where it isn't, and how the $881 million Zillow Offers bet collapsed. Notes for SA agents.
- The day the Competition Commission came for the property portals
In 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.
- Property24's top tier rose 374% in six years. Here's what agents actually pay in 2026
Property24'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.