SPECIAL FOCUS
Fountainhead Blue Downs is a new affordable housing development in the Western Cape developed by Motlekar Cape in partnership with the Western Cape
Government. All Units under R300 000 qualify for the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme.
Patel feels that the target of 1.5 million
housing opportunities is achievable if it’s
broken down into its components. Those
opportunities don’t only mean “new homes”;
they encompass informal settlement
development, making serviced stands
available, addressing housing challenges in
mining towns and much more.
“If you look specifically at the gap
housing market, where a lot of the housing
developments operate, the target is to make
about 300 000 units available,” says Patel. Is
it enough, though? When the first Banking
Charter was signed in 2006, the requirement
was for around 600 000 homes. “Due to
urbanisation and delivery, despite the rate
over the last five years not being what it
should have, we’re probably still looking
at similar figures in the gap market. The
problem is that a typical unit that can be
produced in the gap market would have a
selling price of around R350 000. In order to
afford that, your household income would
have to be around R11 500