There are nearly 12-million households earning less than R13,000 a month with just less than 2.5-million properties available if households stick to the guideline that they spend no more than a third of their income on housing.

This is equal to one property for 4.8 households in this income band, showing how low-income households in South Africa face an acute shortage of formal housing stock, said Hayley Ivins-Downes, managing executive of real estate at analytics company Lightstone Property.

The ratio improved to 3.3 households for every one formal property if the salary threshold moved to R26,000 a month. For higher income groups, this ratio was closer to 1.2 to 1.

Most of South Africa’s households earn less than R26,000 per month, which means affordability remains a major obstacle to most households having a property to call their own, Ivins-Downes said.

This pushed many into backyard rentals, informal structures or traditional dwellings that weren’t formally registered — and often these options were further away from work than is ideal.

“In many towns, lower income working people struggle most to find accommodation.”

For homes valued at less than R300,000 — 80% of which were subsidised — only 1% had been bought or sold in the past five years compared with 4% in the R300,000 to R500,000 price band, 6% in the R500,000 to R750,000 price band and 13% in the R750,000 to R2m price band.

“The data told us that not only was there a significant shortage of affordable housing, but there were proportionately fewer transactions among lower income earners, limiting mobility, equity growth and broader economic participation,” Ivins-Downes said.

The more education people have, the more likely they will be able to buy houses in higher price bands, the data also shows.

“A household with two working people who did not have matric would probably be able to afford a house valued at R250,000 — but this jumped to R380,000 where the two have a matric and to R1.8m when they have degrees,” she said.

Mapping these affordability scenarios to suburbs showed how the difference in education — and consequently earning potential — affected housing choice.

In Johannesburg, couples without matric found affordable stock in areas such as Hillbrow, Johannesburg Central and Orange Farm, while couples with degrees would be buying in suburbs such as Morningside, North Riding and Weltevreden Park.

She said the insights underscored the need for integrated housing, education and economic policies to address the barriers facing lower income households.