Rent Vs Buy: Table View - Wait Till After September...

Here's a 36 m^2 apartment in Table View on the market for R599 000 with a net rental income of R2 265 (R2 800 rent - R325 levy and R210 rates). It must be sold before the end of September says the ad. Or what? They'll increase the price again?

With a 100% bond the difference between the monthly bond payment of R7 446 and the net rental income is R5 181, over 2.2 times the rental itself. What's worse is that this apartment was on the market for R625 000 (for 36m^2 in Table View !?!) and if you'd bought it at that price you'd be covering a shortfall of R6 196 a month. Here's the income and yield graph:

Right so putting down a 50% deposit required 6% capital appreciation to not lose any money, while you'll only break even on cash flow with a 69.58% downpayment. If you buy the place in cash you'll make a pretty dismal 4.94% ROI, about what you could expect if you just left your money in a checking account. And once maintenance and vacancy costs are taken into account returns will be even less.