Pretoria is a very popular place to stay – not only for those who study, work or who have chosen to retire here, but also for many who prefer to live in Pretoria even though they work in Johannesburg or one of the towns to the east and west. The weather is good (always a few degrees warmer than Johannesburg), the infrastructure is well developed and sound, and there are many who argue that as far as safety and security and the general quality of life goes, Pretoria is one of the best places in South Africa to grow up or raise a family in.

But choosing which suburb of Pretoria to call home is far from straight-forward. There are some who list some of the most popular areas as Doornpoort, Equestria, Faerie Glen, Garsfontein, Montana, Moreletapark, Silver Lakes, Sunnyside and Waterkloof. However there are more than these among Pretoria’s plus-minus 150 suburbs where, major recessions and depressions aside, properties are generally in demand both as places to buy and to rent.

Arcadia, Hatfield and Sunnyside are particularly popular with students and academics at the city’s universities and technikons. There are a number of property owners who’ve made investments in these suburbs with the specific intention of renting flats or houses to under-graduates and post-graduates. Whereas in terms of ultra-luxurious houses on bigger than average-size stands, it certainly appears that in recent years the majority of new developments of this sort have tended to go up in the eastern parts of the residential sprawl – in suburbs such as Brooklyn, Groenkloof, Lynnwood and Waterkloof.

And the cheapest houses to rent in Pretoria? Well, just to give some idea, if you need at least three bedrooms and want to be in one of the suburbs touched on above: R5000 a month will get you a house with two bathrooms and a nice garden in Doornpoort; R6000 to R7000 a month is the rent being asked for something similar in Equestria and Montana; and for a monthly rental of R8500 you can stay in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a borehole in Lynnwood Ridge, say.

For affordable accommodation that’s also safe and clean, Jika Properties is a letting agent to be recommended for advice in more detail: Telephone 086 010-9237 or e-mail rentals@citiq.co.za

It’s described by some as the northern gateway to Joburg’s city centre, specifically via the impressive Nelson Mandela (suspension) Bridge that spans the dozens of railway lines in the shunting yards outside the Johannesburg train station. To others, Braamfontein is a hub for the arts, entertainment and education just off the M1 freeway connecting the city’s older, central precincts with the newer suburbs to the north. And to anybody travelling through Braamfontein it’s a place of high-rise buildings, office blocks, flats and apartment buildings with shops of various types lining many of the streets.

Here you’ll find the boardrooms of major corporates, the campus of the Witwatersrand University (Wits), the Johannesburg Theatre (formerly The Civic), the 5th Dimension College of Visual Arts, the Neighbourgoods Market and hotels including the Parktonian and the Devonshire. There aren’t any houses to speak of in Braamfontein, but there’s a huge variety of residential options nonetheless.

You can rent a great unfurnished, one-bedroom bachelor pad (with access to a pool) for around R3800 a month – in fact you can get a semi-furnished bachelor flat for the same amount. R4000 a month will get you a comfortable, fully-furnished bachelor flat, and for a bit more room plus covered parking, there are one-bedroomed apartments going for R4200.

For a spacious two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in a well-maintained building with 24-hour security and within walking distance of Wits and the University of Johannesburg, you’re looking at paying R5200 to R6200 a month.

R250 000 to R400 000 is the range that most decent flats and apartments are selling for in the Braamfontein high-rises.

If you’re looking for clean, safe and affordable accommodation in Braamfontein, it makes sense to deal through agents who are very familiar with the territory and, better still, based in Braamfontein. Jika Properties is just such a company, plus they specialise in buildings with security personnel on site, high tech security equipment such as finger-print readers and cameras, and they are continually refurbishing their buildings, inside and out.

To contact Jika Properties’ rentals team, based on the second floor of the New West Wing at 1 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, telephone 086 010-9237 or e-mail rentals@citiq.co.za

Finding accommodation within easy travelling distance of the Johannesburg city centre that is clean, safe and affordable can be very challenging, particularly if you’d rather not stay in a high-rise building. However Jika Properties, specialists in affordable properties when it comes to the Johannesburg inner city and surrounds, might well have something in its portfolio that is just what you’re after.

For example, there are various cottages currently on Jika Properties’ books including some that are very centrally located, in Troyeville say, and others in suburbs just east of the city centre, for example in Bezuidenhout Valley. Both suburbs are within close proximity to the Ellis Park stadium (Coca-Cola Park) and other sporting venues – in fact Troyeville is just a short walking distance away. The Doornfontein campus of the University of Johannesburg is also in the vicinity, and the area is well served by numerous schools, retail stores of various descriptions and a very established road infrastructure.

Troyeville is south-west of Bezuidenhout Valley and borders on Jeppestown to the south, New Doornfontein to the west and Bertrams to the north. And one can hardly talk about Troyeville without at least mentioning the Troyeville Hotel in the Portuguese precinct – a popular hang-out for rugby fans before or after an Ellis Park match and with a reputation for great-tasting, affordable Portuguese food either in the sports bar or one of the establishment’s two restaurants.

The Troyeville cottages that are available to rent via Jika Properties are at 17/19 Nourse Street and 15 Albemarie Street. The green-roofed Nourse Cottages are characterised by on-street parking, a wide pavement shaded by a grand old tree, verandas and shrubs out front and good street lighting… The Albemarie Cottages, also with a green roof, are set back from the road, with off-street parking, a perimeter wall and a view, located as they are near the top of a hill.

The white-walled, red-roofed Bezuidenhout Cottages at 26 Seventh Avenue in Bezuidenhout Valley are built atop single garages, with red steps leading up to the verandas and large wooden front doors. The surrounding neighbourhood include Kensington, Judiths Paarl, Doornfontein, Observatory and Bezuidenhout Park.

To contact Jika Properties’ rentals team who are based on the second floor of the New West Wing at 1 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, telephone 086 010-9237 or e-mail rentals@citiq.co.za

Clean, safe and affordable rental accommodation is par for the course if you deal through Jika Properties, and certainly it describes one of the buildings in their portfolio that’s worth taking a look at if you are searching for good value-for-money accommodation in Pretoria. Annlin and Sinoville are neighbouring suburbs in Pretoria north, and it’s here in the double-storey Annlin Lifestyle Place that there are currently three flats to let for a very reasonable monthly rental.

Ideal for singles or couples, units 18, 44 and 46 in Annlin Lifestyle Place at 246 Matlabas Street in Annlin Ext 59, Sinoville, Pretoria, each include one bedroom and one bathroom. There are upstairs and ground-floor units, with the buildings separated from one another by a carpet of lush green lawn. The rental is set at R3 150 per month, with a deposit of R3 150 payable up front to secure the keys to the front door.

Annlin and Sinoville are well established residential areas – large, mature trees are among the characteristics of these suburbs just a 10-minute drive from the city centre. Over the years, farms and smallholdings have made way for a growing number of small housing developments and the gated community lifestyle has increased in popularity among working-class families as well as professionals.

There is easy access to freeways including the N1 from Durban and Johannesburg in the south to Polokwane in the north, and easy-to-reach shopping complexes include the Menlyn Park, Brooklyn and Kolonade malls. The schools in the area are good and the Tshwane University of Technology as well as the University of Pretoria are within a short driving distance.

Also close by is the Wonderboom Nature Reserve and the Wonderboom Airport that serves mostly light aircraft. And once on the freeway it’s a short journey to Magaliesburg attractions such as the Hartebeespoort Dam and Elephant Sanctuary, hiking trails, hot-air ballooning and a whole lot more.

To contact Jika Properties’ rentals team based on the second floor of the New West Wing at 1 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, telephone 086 010-9237 or e-mail rentals@citiq.co.za

The largest city in South Africa, the capital of Gauteng Province and where the country’s Constitutional Court is based, Johannesburg originated as a dusty settlement that sprung up after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand reef in the 1880s. Over a century later, Joburg – or Egoli (place of gold), as it is sometimes called – has developed into urban and suburban sprawls inhabited by between 3-million and 11-million people, depending on where you draw the boundaries in terms of the many towns and suburbs that surround the original precincts.

Sky-scrapers began going up from the middle of the 20th century. Freeways were built in the ’60s and ’70s that paved the way for more residential developments and the decentralisation of commerce and industry. Plenty of shopping malls and office parks were built in all directions, with Sandton, Rosebank and Eastgate among the biggest growth points.

Among the city’s many attractions today are The Apartheid Museum in Ormonde, which deals with how the former National Party government condemned some 20-million people to second-class status, humility and abuse, and how they were liberated with the election of Nelson Mandela as president. Next door to this museum, the Gold Reef City complex is a re-creation of Joburg as it was over 100 years ago, characterised by Victorian buildings, mine shafts, underground tours, the world’s deepest pub as well as a theme park and casino. Another of the landmarks is the calabash-styled FNB Stadium at Soccer City in Diepkloof, the venue of some great entertainment – especially when the country’s most popular teams Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are playing against each other.

In terms of the real estate market, are properties for sale that fit every description and every pocket, while the flats to rent in Johannesburg range from tiny, very basic bachelor pads just off the street to penthouse-likeapartments with all the mod-cons and in the plushest suburbs.Right in the middle of the Joburg CBD you can let bachelor, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats in one of the high-rises for between R2500 and R4000 a month. Away from the hustle and bustle on the perimeter of the CBD, flats in secure complexes range from R4000 to R6000 to R8000 and even R20 000 for the very best in Houghton or Sandton, for example. Bargains for two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments in good suburbs range from R5000 for a place including security access-control, a couple of parking bays and a communal garden, to R11 000 for a very large, modern apartment with everything you could wish for.

Two of the areas in Pretoria worth investigating should you be looking for a place to rent arethe semi-rural northern suburbs of Annlin and Sinoville, surrounded as they are by the suburbs of Wonderboom, Magalieskruin, Montana, Christiaanville, Cynthiavale and Wolmer, and accessed via Route 513 off the M1 freeway or via Lavender Road off the R101 and R566.


On one hand they’re close to the CBD and many of Pretoria’s city attractions such as the State Theatre, the Pretoria Zoo and Melrose House, a treat for those interested in Victorian architecture or history, given that it’s where the Anglo-Boer war peace treaty was signed. On the other hand, Annlin and Sinoville have good access to the Wonderboom Airport and are not far from some great open spaces including the Roodeplaat Dam, the Magaliesberg Mountains, the Onderstepoort Nature Reserve and the Wonderboom Nature Reserve, famous for its wild fig trees and in particular the trunk of a 1000-year-old specimen.


There’s a range of different types of property for sale, includingsimplexes going for less than a million to houses for which the owners are asking R3-million and more, and the accommodation to rent in Sinoville and Annlin includes, say, two-bedroom flat units for under R4000 a month to three-bedroom houses for monthly rentals of R6000, R8000 and more. There are plenty of townhouse complexes but also a number of small-holdings, and the feeling in the green, leafy areas of these suburbs is one of a country lifestyle.


The northern suburbs of Pretoria are also known for the holiday accommodation offered there. Holiday homes, villas, garden cottages and flats – short-term property rentals in Pretoria that are as affordable or luxurious as your budget allows.Just one example: a guesthouse high on a hillside, great swimming pool, fantastic views, R295 to R475 per person per day.


And of course in terms of medium-term property rentals, there are also plenty of places for students in Pretoria: houses and apartments, bed-sits and studios – everything from individual rooms to large housing schemes and apartment blocks.

Huge variety of property to let in Alberton’s many suburbs

Over 100 years old, the East Rand town of Alberton in Gauteng is primarily residential in nature. Fifteen kilometres south-east of the Johannesburg CBD and accessed via the N3, N12 and R59, it includes the affluent suburb called Meyersdal, named after a relative of the town’s founding father who lived in the grand farmhouse today is one of the landmarks visible to those driving along the N12.

A large percentage of Alberton’s residents are Afrikaans-speaking and the respect that previous generations felt for their history is borne out by many names such as those of the primary schools Jan Meyer, who farmed and owned a general store in the area back in the 1800s, and Generaal Alberts, named after Gen Hennie Alberts who was responsible for the town being Christened Alberton, so to speak.

Alberton also encompasses sizeable industrial areas including the suburb of Alrode,and there are a number of libraries, hospitals and shopping malls. The City Shopping Mall is flanked by the pedestrian-friendly Alberton Boulevard and there are numerous facilities for a wide variety of sports – including a country club and golf course – and for a long time Alberton was renowned for the horse-racing that took place at its New Market Race Course, which is no longer in operation.

Besides Meyersdal and Alrode, the town has expanded over the years to include 16 other suburbs: Alberante, Albermarle, Albertsdal, Alberton North, Brackendowns, Brackenhurst, Eden Park, Florentia, Mayberry Park, New Redruth, Palm Ridge, Randhart, Raceview, South Crest, Thokoza and Verwoerdpark.

The accommodation in these areas varies considerably. Just in terms of the property to let in Alberton, the options range from one-bedroom flats for around R2000 a month to two-bedroom duplexes at around R4000 per month to expansive houses with three bedrooms, three garages a pool and a large gardenall on offer for over R10 000 a month.

In Meyersdal, you can rent a two-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouse in a secure complex for about R4500 a month, a two-bedroom cottage with a couple of bathrooms for around R7000 a month, a modern house for R10 000 a month or a five-bedroom ‘mansion’ for R20 000 a month.

Spoilt for choice when it comes to rentals in Roodepoort

With a name derived from the red soil in the area, the city of Roodepoort dates back to the days of a gold-rush in the late 1800s. Soon after the proclamation of the first shanty-town of miners, three more sprung up on what were previously Boer farms and the settlements of Roodepoort, Florida, Hamberg and Maraisburg grew to the point that they were eventually brought together under the umbrella of a local government.

Once the gold in the area began running out and more lucrative reefs were being mined to the east and west, Roodepoort became less of a mining town and more of a place that people commuted from to their places of work in Johannesburg and elsewhere. Today there are several well developed commercial and light-industrial areas in the city, some agricultural properties and remnants of the mining industry, but generally speaking Roodepoort comprises a large number of residential suburbs that range from those tailored for low-income households to others that the rich and famous call home.

There are a number of historical buildings – including a national monument or two – that have been preserved in one way or another, such as the old town school of which the first structures were built in 1894. By and large, however, the architecture of the city is now more modern, with the main attractions and landmarks on the rolling hills in keeping with a bustling city that has a population of 250 000 people, give or take.

Westgate is among the best-known shopping centres in the area, and between these,the country club and golf courses, the athletics stadium, various entertainment areas, the schools and homes are numerous green belts that encompass Florida Lake, the Kloofendal Nature Reserve with its stone amphitheatre, and the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, 300 hectares of indigenous vegetation with hundreds of bird species including a pair of black eagles that nest above a waterfall.

Accommodation wise there’s a vast range to choose from in terms of both property sales and rentals. The rentals in Roodepoort, for example, include two-bedroom flats in suburbs such as Florida and Horison for between R3 500 and R4 000 a month, to houses in suburbs such as Witpoortjie, Ruimsig and Quellerina for between R4 000 and R9 000 per month, to mansions on one of the golf estates going for over R30 000 a month…

Plenty of property to let in Jacaranda city, home of the Bulls

Founded by Marthinus Pretorius in 1855 and named his father Andries Pretorius, a hero among the Boer leaders after the Voortrekkers’ victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River, Pretoria today is many different things to many different people. As South Africa’s administrative capital, it’s also known as Jacaranda city – Jacaranda trees were imported from Rio de Janeiro in the 1880s and today there are tens of thousands of them up and down many of the streets.

The Union Buildings which house the office of the President of South Africa are among the major landmarks in the city, as are the Voortrekker Monument, the huge forts Klapperkop and Schanskop which the Afrikaaners used to defend Pretoria from the British army during the Anglo Boer War, and the Transvaal Museum near Church Square. But politicsand history aside, other buildings that stand out include the University of South Africa (UNISA) and those that line the city’s main street – Church being the longest urban street in the country and one of the longest in the world. Pretoria also has over 100 embassies, second only to the American city of Washington in this regard.

The Pretoria Zoo is the biggest in the country and one of the leading examples in the world. Besides UNISA, the University of Pretoria is another of the city’s many tertiary education centres. Loftus Versveld is one of South Africa’s major sporting venues as the home of Blue Bulls rugby and one of the best places to watch the Springboks in action. The State Theatre is a cultural icon, there are good shopping centres and restaurants, and in terms of accommodation for holiday or business travellers there are hotels, guest houses and B&Bs aplenty.

Pretoria is continually expanding, with various developments at different stages of completion, and when it comes to living in Pretoria there are about 100 suburbs to choose from, some of the best schools in the country, a well-developed road infrastructure, good access to the airport and rail transport that includes the much talked-about Gautrain.

There are many different types of residential accommodation at a variety of price-points. Just to give some idea of the pricing of property to let in Pretoria, the Centurion area includes bachelor flats in Wierda Park going for about R2500 a month, two-bedroom houses in Hennopspark for R4500 per month, new townhouses within walking distance of the Gautrain line for around R5500 a month, three- and four-bedroom houses in various suburbs such as De Hoewes, Rooihuiskraal and Monavani for between R7000 and R10 000 a month, and exquisite homes on golfing estates for over 20K per month.