November 12, 2003
By Lucille Davie
So, who is living in the inner city? Trafalgar Property & Financial Services does an annual inner city report and their most recent survey reveals some interesting facts about inner city dwellers.
The October 2003 report surveyed residents living in five inner city blocks from whom 149 responses were received. Not surprisingly, they discovered that most people living in the CBD are black - 93% - with whites and coloureds making up the remaining 7%.
Trafalgar ascertained that inner city residents cover the range of income earners - from the very poor to the affluent. But it's a very transient population. Some 23% of the sample surveyed has been in downtown Johannesburg for less than six months, while 36% have been living in the CBD for more than two years.
More than half of the respondents were between 20 and 30 years of age, and of those 65% are male and 35% female, with well over half (61%) of respondents remaining single.
Education varies: 19% have a university degree, and 35% have technikon diplomas. A low 12% indicated that their household income exceeds R15 000 per month, while 21% report a monthly household income of less that R1 500. Most respondents (81%) have dependants of either children or family members.
There were a range of reasons cited for their inner city choice of accommodation. Some 22% said that affordability dominated their choice, while 11% said that proximity to work and another 11% said proximity to school, were deciding factors in their decision.
Most use public transport - 74% use minibus taxis, 32% uses buses and 31% own their own vehicles.
Interesting aspirations regarding future accommodation choice were revealed. Sandton was the referred next suburb of 9% of the sample, while 7% chose Randburg, and 9% would move to Berea next time around.
Almost three-quarters, 71%, said they would prefer to buy their homes, with 35% looking at property below R50 000, and 20% considering properties between R50 000 and R75 000.
Safety and security were obviously concerns of inner city residents, with 52% feeling the CBD was not safe. On the other hand, 51% felt the buildings in which they lived were safe.
Most residents (90%) communicate via cellphone, with 35% using landlines. E-mail is used by 44% of the respondents.
Most people in the sample prefer to pay their monthly rent via bank deposits, although 6% make those payments via internet transfers. Inner city residents use a range of banking facilities: 12% use cheques, 9% use debit cards and 27% use credit cards.
Residents found their accommodation by different means: 42% sourced the information through newspaper advertisements, while another 42% heard of vacant flats through friends or family.
Flat rentals in the inner city continue to move upwards, fuelled by a ready demand from people moving from townships, largely to be closer to their places of work. Whereas tenants were paying R176 a month in 1989 for a bachelor flat, now they're paying R1 500 a month for the same flat.
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