Where South Africa’s richest people live

South Africa’s wealthiest residents are largely concentrated in small areas of Gauteng and the Western Cape, with the rest spread all over the country’s other provinces.

In its latest results, PSG Financial Services explained that its wealth management division, PSG Wealth, strategically places its advisors to service wealthy clients where they reside.

The firm boasts 972 advisers, 635 of whom are part of the wealth division and the remaining 337 form part of PSG Insure.

PSG has 265 offices across the country that house these advisors, which are largely concentrated in Gauteng and the Western Cape, where more wealthy clients reside.

Henley & Partners revealed in its Africa Wealth Report for 2025 that Cape Town and the Winelands region have the highest concentration of dollar billionaires in South Africa, with six living in the city and the surrounding area.

In contrast, only two dollar billionaires live in Johannesburg, which has retained its position as the wealthiest city in Africa by number of dollar millionaires.

The City of Gold is still home to the most dollar millionaires at 11,700, but Cape Town is closing in on the top spot, with 8,500 dollar millionaires and more centi-millionaires than Johannesburg.

Cape Town’s number of millionaires has grown by 33%, while Johannesburg’s has declined by 35% over the past decade.

Johannesburg’s high concentration of wealthy residents can be attributed to the city’s status as South Africa’s economic hub, with most JSE Top 40 companies headquartered there.

The bulk of this wealth is located in the Sandton area, which is considered the richest square mile in Africa.

Henley & Partners found that large numbers of wealthy individuals also live in lifestyle estates in the up-and-coming Waterfall–Midrand area, including estates such as Steyn City, Blue Hills, and Saddlebrook.

Wealthy residents of Cape Town tend to live in the Winelands region and the Garden Route, with many attracted to the more relaxed lifestyle and better governance associated with these areas.

The Winelands region, in particular, is booming, having shown exceptional growth in the past decade, ranking among the three fastest-growing millionaire hubs on the continent.

The region’s number of billionaires has grown by 42% in the past ten years, behind only Marrakech and the Whale Coast in South Africa.

While not home to billionaires, Pretoria, Durban, and the Garden Route boast 20 centi-millionaires between them.

The graphic below shows the distribution of PSG’s advisors across South Africa, with a clear concentration in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Millions and billions

PSG’s latest interim results for the first half of its 2026 financial year showed how the company has leveraged this vast advisory network to its benefit.

The firm’s assets under management climbed by 19% to R517.6 billion in the six-month period, with R448.9 billion contributed by its wealth management division.

PSG Wealth offers a range of wealth management services for individuals, families or businesses.

This division has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 15% in recurring headline earnings since 2022.

In the company’s latest results, PSG Wealth saw its core income increase by 15%, due to a continued increase in management and other recurring fees and transactional brokerage fees.

Client assets managed by PSG Wealth advisers increased to R448.9 billion, which included R11.7 billion of positive net inflows during the period.

PSG Asset Management, which offers local unit trusts, global funds and segregated portfolios, also shot the lights out. This division was bouyed by higher performance fees, as well as strong growth in management fees of 17.1%.

Assets administered by this division increased by 10% to R292.0 billion, supported by R6.9 billion of multi-managed net inflows.

Coronation analyst Zukisa Luswazi explained earlier this year that PSG’s strong performance has been driven by strong execution and consistent investment in key underlying businesses.

Luswazi specifically highlighted the strong performance of PSG Wealth, which generates around 60% of the group’s earnings.

He explained that this business has the largest independent advisory force in South Africa that is not tied to a bank or life insurer.

It runs a revenue-sharing business model with its advisors, which respects their autonomy and allows them to build independently run advisory practices within the PSG stable.

In addition, they benefit from the support of a strong centre that takes away the administrative burden of running advisory practices. This frees advisors up to do what they do best – serve clients well and grow their practices.

This model has greatly benefited PSG, with it translating into significant growth in its advisory base and greater flows into its asset management business than its peers. 

PSG’s latest interim results presentation showed that its clients’ wealth assets were split among various plans, as shown in the table below.