Housing Accounting: Quantifying the Title Deeds Backlog in South Africa

This short paper titled Housing Accounting: Quantifying the Title Deeds Backlog in South Africa (PDF, 2.32 MB) reviews publicly available data on subsidy housing delivery and registrations. It highlights that key data points are either missing or inaccurate. In light of this, estimates of the title deed backlog published by the National Department of Human Settlements (NDHS) are likely to be wrong.

This paper uses other publicly available data to derive a plausible alternative estimate of the size of the backlog. In addition, the paper highlights additional data sources that should be used to quantify the backlog and identify the barriers to transfer. These data sources will enable officials at municipal, provincial and national level to better target their efforts in addressing this critical gap in the National Housing Programme.

Beyond simple accounting, the critical issue is that if we can’t accurately quantify the title deed backlog we can’t develop strategies, define budgets, allocate resources, and then prioritise how to address it. This is a critical issue, desperate for attention at all levels of government.

This report and analysis was prepared by 71point4 Consulting with support from CAHF and the Oppenheimer Generations Foundation. It forms part of the work of the Tenure Support Centre (TSC), a joint action-research initiative of 71point4 and CAHF that supports low-income households formalise and regularise their housing tenure, unlock the value of their housing assets and support the performance of local property markets. The TSC advice office currently operates out of FNB’s Khayelitsha branch in Cape Town, South Africa. To find out more about the project visit https://titledeed.org.za/  or on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn @tenuresupportcentre