Marais, LHoekstra, JNapier, MarkCloete, JLenka, M2018-03-092018-03-092018-01Marais, L. et al. 2018. The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-018-9593-6, 18pp1573-77721566-4910https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10901-018-9593-6https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-018-9593-6https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10901-018-9593-6.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10204/10091Copyright: 2017 Springer. Due to copyright restrictions, the attached PDF file only contains the pre-print version of the full text item. For access to the published version, please consult the publisher's website.Under apartheid, black African households could not own land or homes in most major urban centres in South Africa. This limited residential mobility and locked many households into state rental accommodation in townships. Homeownership for all South Africans was restored in the mid-1980s and the Group Areas Act was repealed in 1991. Democracy opened up economic opportunities previously unavailable to black people. This paper investigates the effect on black middle-class South African households’ residential mobility and housing careers. A retrospective cross-sectional survey of 244 such homeowners in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality determined their last five housing states. Changes in housing state indicated a steady improvement in housing quality, but tenure changes were not necessarily unidirectional – some had reverted to rental. More than 85% of the study participants had used mortgages to finance their housing career. Very few had financed their housing using own savings, an inheritance, or sale of a previous house, and not many had used the government subsidy. We found that housing careers are bridging the historical spatial racial divide in this municipality.enBlack middle classHousing careersHousing qualityHousing statesSouth AfricaArticleMarais, L., Hoekstra, J., Napier, M., Cloete, J., & Lenka, M. (2018). The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10091Marais, L, J Hoekstra, Mark Napier, J Cloete, and M Lenka "The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area." (2018) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10091Marais L, Hoekstra J, Napier M, Cloete J, Lenka M. The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area. 2018; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10091.TY - Article AU - Marais, L AU - Hoekstra, J AU - Napier, Mark AU - Cloete, J AU - Lenka, M AB - Under apartheid, black African households could not own land or homes in most major urban centres in South Africa. This limited residential mobility and locked many households into state rental accommodation in townships. Homeownership for all South Africans was restored in the mid-1980s and the Group Areas Act was repealed in 1991. Democracy opened up economic opportunities previously unavailable to black people. This paper investigates the effect on black middle-class South African households’ residential mobility and housing careers. A retrospective cross-sectional survey of 244 such homeowners in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality determined their last five housing states. Changes in housing state indicated a steady improvement in housing quality, but tenure changes were not necessarily unidirectional – some had reverted to rental. More than 85% of the study participants had used mortgages to finance their housing career. Very few had financed their housing using own savings, an inheritance, or sale of a previous house, and not many had used the government subsidy. We found that housing careers are bridging the historical spatial racial divide in this municipality. DA - 2018-01 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Black middle class KW - Housing careers KW - Housing quality KW - Housing states KW - South Africa LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2018 SM - 1573-7772 SM - 1566-4910 T1 - The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area TI - The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10091 ER -