The black middle–class market segment also known as the black diamond market
segment has shown immense growth in SA. It currently consists of approximately 3 million
black middle–class South Africans with a buying power of approximately R200 billion.
Despite the immense size and spending power of black diamonds, combined with its rapid
growth over the past 15 years and expected future growth, little research has been
conducted on this market segment.
The rapid market growth of the black diamond market segment has lead to an immense
rise in the demand for middle–income houses. This has caused a shortage of middleincome
houses, and government and real estate developers have been unable to supply
housing in this bracket to meet this ever increasing demand. The study examines this
missing middle between supply and demand for the black diamond market in Tlokwe
municipal region in order to provide the Tlokwe Municipality, real estate developers,
construction companies, town planners, real estate agencies and the Tlokwe Department
of Housing with sufficient information to address this challenge in Tlokwe municipal
region.
The study was conducted by way of a literature review and empirical study. For the
empirical study, the information was obtained through two questionnaires. One
questionnaire was compiled for black diamond respondents and one for real estate
developers and estate agents in the Tlokwe municipal region.
The study found that there is a gap between the supply side and demand side of middleincome
housing (houses within the R50 000 to R550 000 price range) in the Tlokwe
municipal region, and that there is a high demand for such houses. It was also found that
there is a tendency for black diamonds to relocate from the townships to the suburbs. The
major reasons for this movement were identified as family and the lack of availability of
middle–income houses in the townships.
It was also found that the black diamond respondents have a tendency to spend their
money on bad debt (debt on expenses) instead of good debt (debt on assets), and are
inclined to save rather than spend. Furthermore, as evident from the number of
respondents with clothing accounts and cellphone contracts, it was confirmed that black
diamonds are status driven, as suggested in the literature. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4595 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Venter, Raymano |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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