Food items in South Africa are lower in price than in European or American cities. But imported grocery goods are rather expensive. Often however you can replace them with good quality local products.

Clothing is much lower in price than overseas. You can get even designer wardrobe for half the price you would pay in Rome or Paris. Good quality leather shoes are however on the pricey side with prices comparable with European cities.

Housing prices are comparably low in Cape Town. You can find good three bedroom houses in safe areas for R12,000/month. Expect however to pay more if you prefer to live in a gated estate or want to have a pool or other extras.

The utility prices are soaring at the moment. Council costs (water, waste water and waste collection) amount to roughly R130 per month. Also influencing the cost of living, the energy costs are increasing at the moment.

The times of buying the cheapest electricity in the world are over and Capetonians are confronted with a hefty price rise of 27% in electricity costs since January 2008, and it another rise of 35% or more in electricty costs is to come soon. This means the average household will have bills around R500 per month, with higher rates depending on use of pool, heating, air-conditioning, tumble dryer etc.

Should you have to pay an Armed Response team or security company their costs usually amount to R270 per month.

The fees for the education of your children also have to be taken into account. The fees for private schools are relatively low compared to rates you would have to pay overseas. The average charge will amount to R25,000 to R45,000 per child/year. Some prestigious private school however charge much more, in fact in the region of R100,000/school year.

Should your employer not offer to pay for the education of your school-age children, you could send them to state schools which have much lower or no fees, but be sure to check them out before you move as the standard of the South African state schools in your area might not be acceptable for your expectations.

Costs for private transport were rising since mid of 2008 like everywhere else in the world due to increasing oil prices. The car prices now are still relatively stable, but the cost for the petrol was increasing slightly again.

At the beginning of May 2009 the petrol price moved up a bit again. Diesel in Cape Town now costs R7.14, with the petrol price a bit lower at R7.10/l. Diesel is however expected to fall for 15c and petrol to rise for the same amount in June. This way a full tank for a medium sized car will cost you around R460.

Car insurance for a decent city hopper like VW Golf will set you back another R500/month.

Leisure Activities are again relatively cheap, as dining out is not as expensive as in many other great places around the world. You can have a delicious meal in a good restaurant with starter, main-course and a decent bottle of wine and after-meal coffees at R600 for four persons.

Cinema tickets are around R25 depending on the use of a member card and the cinema chain.

Membership for a gym costs monthly around R220/person with a one-year membership.

Are there any taxes like VAT on personal products?

Calculating the cost of living in Cape Town

• Cost of food items and daily grocery shopping

• Cost of clothing, shoes, cosmetics

• Cost of housing: rent, mortgage bond, utilities and security

• Cost of keeping a car: petrol, insurance

• Cost of personal local insurance for your home and its contents

• Cost of leisure activities and going out in Cape Town

To find out where to go shopping in Cape Town and to read my shopping tips please click here.

Quality of Living in Cape Town

You want to know why? Read here what makes Cape Town so popular with expats.

The status as one of the most preferred cities for expat living is also confirmed in a survey conducted by Mercer in the Worldwide Quality of Living Study 2009.

This study compares cities around the world and shows that the quality of living in Cape Town is high.

The Mother City takes 87th place (down from 80th in 2008) in the survey of these 215 cities around the world. and is the preferred city in South Africa with Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape ranking at 93rd place.

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