My theory is that the City of Cape Town inflates property value to collect more rates and I am dying on that hill. It moves from the inner city and reverberates into the peripheries. The value of my parent's home has grown by 700% in the 15 years they have had it.

It is not an investment if it is your primary residence because the rates start to throttle you. Residents in Bo Kaap, who mostly have had those homes in their families for generations and whose homes are paid up. Have their homes overvalued and now pay like 8k for rates.

People are retiring and using their pension money to clear their debt thinking once their homes are paid its over. Then they discover they have to pay 5k in rates every month and have their electricity and water cut off.