Towards an Understanding the Outcomes of Housing Privatisation in South Africa

The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area

“…This consistent increase in household income over the housing states in our sample shows that increased household income and affordability are key drivers of homeownership. More than two-thirds of our respondents were employed in the public sector and only 20.6% in the private sector, confirming that Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality depends heavily on people employed in government services (Marais et al 2014).…”

“…The economic linkages in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality's economy are largely regional rather than international (Marais et al 2014). The fact that Bloemfontein has been the provincial capital of the Free State (before, during and after the apartheid era) and the seat of South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal for more than 100 years has led to public sector domination of the city's economy.…”

“…The fact that Bloemfontein has been the provincial capital of the Free State (before, during and after the apartheid era) and the seat of South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal for more than 100 years has led to public sector domination of the city's economy. For detailed discussion of apartheid planning in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipal Area, see Krige (1991), Marais (2008, Marais et al (2014 and Marais et al (2016).…”

Financed homeownership and the economic downturn in South Africa

“…This has been achieved mainly through the restoration of urban homeownership rights and property rights. Ownership has been transferred to some 500,000 state rental low-income households (Marais, Sefika, Cloete, Ntema, & Venter, 2014) and a capital subsidy scheme has assisted approximately three million low income households since the early 1990s. Since homeownership in South Africa is part of the process of restorative justice, motives for owning one's home differ from those of the Global North, where homeownership is seen largely as a means of reducing the state's welfare burden (Forrest, 2011;Parkinson, Searle, Smith, Stoakes, & Wood, 2009).…”

Can Western European Home Ownership Products Bridge the South African Housing Gap?

“…When freehold for the black population became available in the mid-1980s (the late apartheid or neo-apartheid period), it was managed in two ways. First, the government attempted to transfer approximately 500 000 state-owned housing units to private ownership by means of the Big Sale and later by means of the Discount Benefit Scheme (Marais et al 2014). The Scheme was continued under the post-apartheid government and most of the state-owned houses were transferred to individuals at no cost.…”