Governance and limitations

SAPS precinct join is incomplete. A portion of the 744 suburbs in our dataset have not been successfully matched to a SAPS precinct. These suburbs display a neutral safety index of 50 and a precinct label of "Unassigned". This is a known data gap, not a computed result.

Crime data lag. SAPS statistics are published quarterly with a reporting delay. The current dataset is Q3 2025/2026 (October-December 2025). Scores reflect this period, not current conditions.

Reported crime is not experienced crime. SAPS data captures crimes reported to police. Research consistently shows that a majority of crimes in South Africa go unreported. In some suburbs, household survey data on experienced victimisation diverges materially from the SAPS-derived safety index - this reflects structural under-reporting, not low actual risk. The safety index is a measure of relative reported crime pressure only.

GV2022 is a point-in-time legal assessment. Actual transaction prices may differ materially from the General Valuation. GV is assessed for municipal rating purposes, not as a live market index. CAGR figures are derived from changes in assessed municipal valuations, not from property sales transactions.

Proximity distances are straight-line only. All health, library, and park distances are Haversine (straight-line) from suburb centroid. Actual walking or road distances will be greater. Large suburbs with irregular boundaries may show significant variance from the centroid measure.

Electricity data covers prepaid connections only. The CoCT prepaid electricity dataset does not cover post-paid or credit meter connections. Wealthier suburbs with a higher proportion of post-paid connections will show lower kWh per capita figures than their actual consumption.

Household survey coverage is 407 of 744 suburbs. The remaining 337 suburbs do not have matched survey data above the reliability threshold. Household economic, food security, housing, and digital metrics are not available for these suburbs. Survey group matching uses geographic proximity; small suburbs may inherit indicative data from a neighbouring survey group.

Matric results coverage is 157 of 744 suburbs (21%). NSC matric data is only available where schools with matric cohorts could be matched via EMIS code to a suburb. The remaining 587 suburbs have no matric data displayed. Pass rates also reflect examination throughput, not educational quality, and are influenced by candidate selection decisions at school level.

Commute mode coverage is 136 of 744 suburbs. Commute mode data from the CCT Household Survey is available for suburbs within the 163 surveyed areas. Taxi connectivity data, sourced from CCT minibus taxi route records, covers 637 suburbs and serves as the primary transport signal where commute mode data is unavailable.

StreetSignal currently covers Cape Town as its pilot city. The methodology is city-agnostic and requires three inputs: a municipal valuation roll, crime statistics with geographic boundaries, and a household survey. Do not use Cape Town-calibrated benchmarks to assess suburbs in other metros.

No rental market or recent sales data. South African property transaction records are held by the Deeds Office and distributed through commercial data providers. Rental market data is held by specialist credit bureaux. Neither source publishes suburb-level data as open data. StreetSignal's property section reflects municipal valuations only, not market prices or rental yields.

No vacancy rate data. Residential vacancy rates at suburb level are not published as open data in South Africa. Commercial vacancy data is held by private providers and is not available for integration.

No development pipeline data. Planning applications, building plan approvals, and new development activity are managed through the City of Cape Town's e-services portal but are not published as a bulk open dataset. StreetSignal cannot show upcoming developments or construction activity.