June marks the beginning of Youth Month in South Africa and also marks almost 50 years since the Soweto Uprising of 1976.
It honours the role of youth in the fight against apartheid and it also serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by young people today and their potential for future contribution.
As the youngest cohort of youth in our country – Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) – come of age, almost half a century post-1976, experts say South Africa’s property sector should be bracing for a generational shift not seen before considering tech fluency, social awareness and shifting values.
However, given the South African context, how much better off will this generation be than those of 1976, many of whom could be Gen Alpha’s grandparents?
And, in a nation still confronting its structural inequalities, how will it play out when this generation – the oldest of whom is now 15 – make it to adulthood and want to enter the property market?
Nomfundo Molemohi, uMaStandi portfolio manager: Eastern and Western Cape, painting a bleak yet realistic picture: “With so many young people unemployed, poverty rising and the cost of housing out of reach, it’s hard to see how this generation, especially our black children, will become homeowners.
“They dream of owning land and building a future, but the road is heavy with obstacles. Even those who are lucky to have family homes often can’t afford the legal costs to transfer it into their names or don’t know how to take ownership.
“This Generation Alpha is carrying the weight of South Africa’s past and present struggles and for some, the hope of a better life may lie beyond our borders.”
1976 to today
Post-apartheid South Africa has seen an increase in property ownership for black South Africans, a significant shift from the discriminatory practices of the past where black people had severely restricted property rights. The government has also implemented land reform initiatives to address the historical injustices of land dispossession under apartheid.
Despite some progress however, the legacy of apartheid continues to shape property ownership patterns. Inequality persists, and many black South Africans still face challenges in accessing land and property ownership.
Affordability issues
“It will certainly be a generation that feels the affect of declining housing affordability,” says property economist, Associate Professor Francois Viruly of UCT, speaking to Independent Media property journalist Given Majola.
Even as interest rates ease slightly, property prices remain out of reach for many, especially in urban centres where the cost of living is rising and wages are stagnant.
Unemployment among youth aged 15 to 34 (Gen Z and a portion of Millennials) remains high – 46.1% in Q1 2025, according to Stats SA – squeezing the dream of homeownership further out of reach. This means that nearly half of South Africa’s young people are unemployed.
“We should be concerned about high youth unemployment. It would also obviously dampen the possibilities of investment in property,” says Viruly.
Yet, he believes Gen Alpha may grow up more aware of the importance of property – particularly in communities where ownership has now become possible.
“Increasingly the opportunities associated with property ownership would be discussed around the dinner table – especially in the townships. This is also a generation that will benefit from property inheritance through the legal transfer of properties.”
Government and NGOs have been hard at work to try sort out the title-deed issues plaguing many township households who do not have valid title deeds in effect killing the hopes of using the property as an asset. It remains one of the bigger barriers to asset wealth in the country.
Inherited wealth
According to new research by Rebecca Simson and Mina Mahmoudzadeh (2024), the racial wealth divide in South Africa remains stark, despite some progress. Using probate records, the researchers found that 45% of white South African adults own inheritable wealth of at least R250 000. Among black adults, that figure drops to just 3%.
Their findings also show that black South Africans who do leave estates tend to be concentrated in former townships and homelands – suggesting that this emerging black middle class owns property acquired only after apartheid, with limited access to historically white-owned assets or areas of high capital appreciation.
The study states that while black South Africans are increasingly formal property owners, structural inequality, localised appreciation and contested inheritance processes are slowing intergenerational wealth accumulation.
Success in Gen A era
For Gen Alpha, traditional success markers such as stable jobs, financial security, homeownership are being redefined. Flexibility, community and digital integration now sit alongside asset ownership.
Vusi Vokwana, the founder of Kasi Catalyst, which helps drive and facilitate outside big investment in the townships, believes Gen A “will reshape SA’s property landscape, being the offspring of the ‘quiet quitters’, the rockstars who coined the phrase, ‘daily work is giving slavery’”.
“What they will show us is patience doesn’t solve systemic discrimination and generational exclusion, our norms don’t apply to them. If they’re anything like Gen Z, they will show us flames while affecting real change.”
The future of housing
According to Christian Hamann, a researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, the only way to bridge historical divides in property access is through localised integration. In an article in The Conversation he says: “Opportunities for racial and socio-economic integration can only be created on a very local level if a diversity of housing options is provided in neighbourhoods.”
In practice, this means designing new developments that accommodate a range of income levels – pairing upmarket townhouses with more affordable apartments and social housing.
“There should be upmarket townhouses alongside more affordable flats and social housing developments,” Hamann told The Conversation.
Split market, split future
The divide is growing clearer: while some Gen Alphas may inherit homes and capital, many others will be priced out or forced to rent long-term. Experts say that wealthier Gen Alphas of all races will leverage family wealth to buy homes in secure, eco-conscious estates while lower- and middle-income Gen Alphas will fuel a growing rental sector and build-to-rent developments, unable to cross the ownership threshold.
“The rental market could expand by 30% in the next decade,” says SA Property Owners Association CEO Neil Gopal. However, even rental markets face pressure. Student accommodation is shrinking, as NSFAS budget gaps threaten housing for thousands of university students – often the first in their families to attend.
There is also a rising concern that given low income, unemployment and infrastructure issues, informal housing – which is mushrooming – may be the third and only option for this generation as they find the formal housing market largely inaccessible.
Projections suggest informal settlements will keep growing, with the trend especially alarming in cities such as Cape Town, where rapid urbanisation and stark economic inequalities fuel the rise of these settlements.
Property and power
Meanwhile, South Africa’s infrastructure issues continue to influence property demand. Estate agents say gated estates with solar power and off-grid utilities are commanding premium prices. But for others, RDP housing and informal structures remain the only option.
Government delivery backlogs and inadequate budget allocations for affordable housing persist – undermining hopes for meaningful reform.
And land continues to remain an issue. ”Gen Alpha want what every generation of township and rural areas before them has wanted… the elusive access to land,” says Vokwana.
“We live in a country where the majority (80%) have access to only 8% of the land. Generational wealth will only be realised by black South Africans when we have solved the inequity that is the legacy of apartheid’s spatial planning.
“Let’s hope ‘Phantom Tax’ (Gen Alpha slang for taking back of food or other things) is the only tax we’ll pay for a lack of transformation in the property sector.”
Almost 50 years since their grandparents took to the streets to fight for justice, perhaps the question is not whether Generation Alpha will reshape the property market, but how they will.
Watch this space.
