Understanding the influence of location on job acceptance in South Africa

Location is a major determinant of whether one accepts a certain job that is on offer in the various parts of South Africa. 

It is a residential choice as factors such as life‑stage, access to schools, healthcare, proximity to work, transport availability and cost, utilities, safety, government service delivery effectiveness, etc., strongly influence job‑related location decisions, says Lindiwe Sebesho, a master reward specialist and executive committee member at the South African Rewards Association (SARA).

“People generally prioritise functional liveability over proximity to CBDs, especially where commuting or hybrid work is cost-effectively possible,” Sebesho says.

She adds that employment opportunities are unevenly distributed across South Africa’s provinces, thereby reinforcing location‑based labour decisions.

Research by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) suggested that there are comparative advantages in Gauteng, Western Cape and parts of KwaZulu-Natal that continue to attract skilled workers.

“Professionals generally choose regions with better municipal performance, schooling and lifestyle amenities, a consideration that has encouraged location‑led job acceptance, particularly among mid‑career and family‑stage employees,” Sebesho adds.

The Master Reward Specialist says housing allowances remain common but are now highly concentrated in the public sector and specific industries:

• Housing allowances are explicitly entrenched in public‑sector remuneration, largely governed by collective bargaining agreements.
• Private‑sector benefits show that housing allowances are not considered a market‑standard benefit. Where they do exist in the private sector, they are typically limited to expatriate packages, site‑based roles(e.g. mining, construction) or project‑linked contracts (not mass employment). 

Impact of housing allowances on South Africa’s property ownership

The executive committee member at SARA, a professional body aimed at promoting the reward profession and practices, says the public sector housing‑related support suggests a direct, structural link between housing allowances and first‑time ownership in the public service.

She says that, however, because most private‑sector employees no longer receive housing allowances, their property acquisition is increasingly dependent on affordability factors such as salary growth, access to mortgage finance, dual‑income households, geographic affordability, etc., rather than employer support.

Influence on future outlook

When asked about the future impact of current remuneration trends and employment opportunities on the property market, Sebesho stated that the South African property market's trajectory is expected to be influenced less by employer housing assistance.

Instead, its primary drivers will be the rate of salary growth, interest-rate relief, residential choices motivated by lifestyle, and the performance of regional governance.

Homebuyer income performance

According to the January 2026 BetterBond Property Brief, a noteworthy positive feature of the data on income of home-buyers is the recovery from the disastrous state capture era (post-2017) and the subsequent recovery from the lockdowns imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The brief showed that over the past nine years, the real incomes of all buyers managed to increase by an impressive annual average of 10.6% in nominal terms and by 5.7% in real terms (after an adjustment for inflation).

The bond originator said it was also apparent from these trends that the people with relatively higher skills (as reflected by higher incomes) were relatively immune to the economic contraction caused by this extraordinary phenomenon.

Fortunately for FTBs, their average income growth has outperformed the income growth of all buyers since the recovery from the record high iinterest rates of 2023 and 2024.

At the beginning of May last year, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) officially announced an upward adjustment to the housing allowance for public servants.

According to Circular No. 15 of 2025, the revised allowance, implemented per the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2025, took effect at the beginning of April last year. 

Effective from that date, the monthly housing allowance for qualifying public servants increased from R1 784.55 to R1 900.00.

The housing allowance, as contained in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 7 of 2015 (clause 4.6), provides that the amount of the housing allowance shall be adjusted annually based on the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the preceding financial year.

The policy on housing allowance also outlines specific conditions for employees who do not own a home, which include that tenants with legal rental agreements appointed before May 27, 2015, would continue to receive a direct R900 monthly allowance.

The remaining R1 000 would be saved in the Government Employees Housing Scheme’s (GEHS) Individual-Linked Savings Facility (ILSF), which is managed by the National Treasury.

Employees appointed on or after May 27, 2015, will have the full R1 900 housing allowance diverted into the ILSF, promoting savings towards future homeownership.

At the beginning of last year, Moses Moshi, the spokesperson for the DPSA, told this publication that every month, an average of R164 million of ILSF savings (Housing Allowance benefit) is processed, albeit not exclusively for homeownership.

The DPSA said at the time that the GEHS, along with the annual subsidy adjustments, reflected the Government's ongoing commitment to improving the living conditions of public servants and to encouraging responsible homeownership through structured savings mechanisms. 

Sebesho says property outlooks consistently point to:

• Stronger rental demand as affordability pressures persist and renting becomes a long‑term choice rather than a transition phase.
• Increased demand for sectional‑title and lifestyle‑oriented housing near employment nodes, transport, fibre connectivity and schools.
• Growth in “rent-vesting”-owning in affordable regions while renting in preferred lifestyle locations, especially among younger, well-paid professional entrants.