Impact of Security on Rental Price of Residential Properties: Evidence from South Africa

The property market plays a vital role in the economy through the provision of constructed space for productive activities and employment opportunities. Evidence gleaned from the literature suggests that the level of security within an area affects property prices. In the current study, the distance between a property and the police station was used as a proxy variable for measuring the perceived level of security. The data on rental prices of residential properties and its attributes were retrieved from a reliable property source (www.property24.com). A Neural network model was used for evaluating the impact of the presence of a police station on rental prices of residential properties within Cape Town, South Africa. Experimental results showed that the developed model is 77.27% accurate when used to predict the rental prices of residential properties. Floor area, number of bathroom, number of bedroom and proximity of a police station have the most significant impact on the rental price of residential properties. Greater efforts are needed to provide insights into the effect of sustainability on rental prices of residential properties. This information would serve a justification for embedding sustainability into residential construction projects.