SA’s residential rental sector broadly faced the same challenges in 2024 that it did in 2023, except for some key new developments according to PayProp’s 6th annual State of the Rental Industry , which surveys rental administrators, estate agency owners, and rental agents.

Landlord confidence recorded the highest level in the history of the survey, with the share of landlords selling off properties having fallen to 30.1%, down from 36.2% in 2024, and 14.6% looking to add to their portfolios, up from 10.6% in 2024. In another first for the report, 51.8% of property professionals indicated that their landlords had a good understanding of the rental market compared to 26% in 2019.

The increase in landlord confidence has been good for property professionals with less than half of agents having had to reduce commission to keep a landlord as a client, compared to 51.1% in 2024. On the other hand, 3.1% of agents were able to increase their commission percentage.

Finding quality tenants and new rental properties remained the top two objectives for property professionals at 32.4% and 25.9% respectively while managing inspections and maintenance featured among the property professionals’ top three business challenges at 16.5%.