Northern Cape rentals see stratospheric rise, possibly due to SKA
Construction of the world’s largest radio telescope is thought to be behind a stratospheric rise in residential rental prices in the Northern Cape. Average rentals in the sparsely populated province grew by 87% between 2010 and 2017‚ reaching R7‚119 a month‚ the South African Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday in its 2018 SA Survey. Analyst Kerwin Lebone said the rise was "phenomenal" because the proportion of households in the province that rent accommodation is the lowest in the country‚ at 1.4%. The most plausible explanation was linked to construction of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the province — a collaborative international project that began in 2014 and is due to run until 2030. Experts from 10 countries and more than 100 organisations are engaged in the project. Lebone said this may have enabled residents to increase rental prices to above-market rates for international tenants. "This underscores the importance of external capital injection into local‚ depre...
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