The City of Cape Town (CoCT) has published new property valuations, and states that the average increase for residential properties is 17%. The Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association (CTCRA), however, whose members represent approximately 10% of the City’s residential properties, and 60% of collected residential rates, has received numerous reports from homeowners in member associations whose valuations have increased by between 25% and 140%; in most instances, these increases have been applied despite there being no improvements to the properties concerned. These new valuations will exacerbate the affordability crisis affecting Cape Town housing.

The CoCT in parallel released a statement claiming that increases in property valuations are “good news”, and that it is providing “relief” to ratepayers in the form of a 10.2% lower “Rate-in-the-Rand” (RiR) for residential properties and an increase in the “rates-free benefit” to the first R500 000 of property value (up from R450 000). It has also proposed that this benefit be extended to properties of R8 million (up from R7 million). The claim that these changes will protect ratepayers from municipal rates bill increases is misleading:

• The 10.2% lower RiR will provide some relief for the rates portions of municipal bills. However, any property which increases by more than 11% in value will still see an increase in rates. With valuation increases of 25% to 140% rates will increase substantially more than the increases CTCRA members saw in the past year, and these were already significant.
• Rates are only one portion of municipal bills associated with property values. In its 2025/2026 budget, the City linked fixed charges for water, sanitation and “city wide cleaning” to property values. These charges resulted in further increases to municipal bills (in addition to a significant increase in rates), and new property valuations will exacerbate these increases. These fixed charges can constitute up to one third of the non consumptive amounts on the municipal bill. The CoCT has not provided any updates on how fixed water, fixed sewage and city-wide cleaning charges will change.
• CoCT has also not provided any updates on the Rate-in-the-Rand for property categories other than residential, leaving owners of vacant, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties in the dark.

The CTCRA is of the view that CoCT has acted irresponsibly by announcing significant valuation increases without giving a complete picture of the effect these will have on municipal bills. The CoCT knew how concerned ratepayers would be after last year’s increases, and should have updated the Municipal Rates Calculator simultaneously to show the effect of the changes.

The public is left with a “Black Friday sale” feeling: the CoCT increases valuations first and then promises a small discount, without full transparency on how other charges will be calculated.

The linking of fixed charges for water, sanitation and “city wide cleaning” to property values was challenged in court in late 2025 by SAPOA and Afriforum, which argue that the City has acted unlawfully in doing so. CTCRA was an amicus curiae in this case. Judgment is still awaited, but expected to be released soon. Recent developments render the outcome of this case even more important.

The CTCRA encourages all homeowners to check their new property valuations, and will be assisting its members in the coming weeks on how to submit effective objections should they feel that their valuations are unreasonably inflated.