Rent Vs Buy: Cape Town CBD

Here's a 'NY style' loft for sale for R2 500 000, currently renting as a business premises for R13 5000 a month.

Down Payment	Monthly Payment	Cash flow	Annual Income	ROI
R0	R28403.51	R-14903.51	R-178842.16
R250000	R25563.16	R-12063.16	R-144757.95	-57.90%
R500000	R22722.81	R-9222.81	R-110673.73	-22.13%
R750000	R19882.46	R-6382.46	R-76589.52	-10.21%
R1000000	R17042.11	R-3542.11	R-42505.30	-4.25%
R1250000	R14201.76	R-701.76	R-8421.08	-0.67%
R1500000	R11361.41	R2138.59	R25663.13	1.71%
R1750000	R8521.05	R4978.95	R59747.35	3.41%
R2000000	R5680.70	R7819.30	R93831.57	4.69%
R2250000	R2840.35	R10659.65	R127915.78	5.69%
R2500000	R0.00	R13500.00	R162000.00	6.48%

If you gear up fully you'll be losing R180 000 and with property over R900 000 achieving a capital appreciation of only 3.3% even capital gains won't help you. If you pay in cash you'll make just under 6.5% ROI. And that's before rates, maintenance and vacancy.