Skip to main content

Riverside

Safety 88/100 Safer than 92% of Cape Town suburbs (relative) Property 2-400k Top 87% Schools 1 nearby Healthcare 1 facilities within 5 km Council Below avg complaints 2d median resolution Transport Minibus taxi coverage well-connected area

Data current as of

#7 Best for Investment

The neighbourhood

What's it like to live here?

Riverside is a neighbourhood in Helderberg, Cape Town, where property values place it among the more affordable areas in Cape Town. The area's safety profile is below the city average for reported safety. There are several places of worship in the area. Policing falls under the Macassar SAPS precinct.

How is the area changing?

In Riverside, crime is declining based on the most recent quarterly comparison. Property values have grown above inflation between valuation rolls.

What should buyers know?

Riverside is served by schools within reach. In this area, service complaints are generally resolved within a few days. The suburb has a healthcare facility within reach.

Neighbourhood summary generated from StreetSignal data and reviewed by our team.

These statistics describe the suburb as a whole. Conditions vary between streets and neighbourhoods within any suburb.

For home buyers & families

Is Riverside safe?

Lower reported crime

68th percentile among 744 suburbs · relative index, not an absolute safety measure

Very low Absolute crime volume
6 628 reported crimes per year · city median: 10 468
↓ 8.9% vs Q3 2024
Crime is low and falling. This is one of the safer parts of Cape Town, with violent crime well below the city average and a positive year-on-year trend. Contact crime (assault, robbery) dominates the reported crime profile.

Detailed data

Safety index (resident-adjusted) How is this calculated? 88 / 100
Contact crime rate 291,081 per 100k residents
Station population 63 388
Harm rate (per resident) 93/100
Harm volume (absolute) 83/100
Data period Q3 2025/2026 (Oct–Dec 2025)
Source SAPS via DataFirst · CC-BY 4.0

This data reflects crimes reported to SAPS Macassar precinct, which covers Riverside and surrounding suburbs. Reported crime may differ from actual crime levels. Full methodology

Disagree with this score? Challenge the methodology ›

Source: SAPS via DataFirst · Q3 2025/2026

FOR BUYERS & INVESTORS

What do properties cost in Riverside?

13th percentile

The median property value in Riverside is R460K. Property values have grown by 17.8% per year since 2018.

A 17.8% annual growth rate (CAGR) over the valuation period.
Value band distribution – Riverside properties (GV2022)

Property values are based on the City of Cape Town's 2022 General Valuation roll. GV is an assessed value for municipal rating purposes; transaction prices frequently exceed GV. Recent sales transaction data and rental market data are not available as open data in South Africa.

Median GV2022 R460,000
Value growth (CAGR 2018–2022) +17.8% per year ↑ Growing
City-wide value percentile 13th percentile
Dominant value band 2-400k
Source CCT GV 2022 · Open Data Policy 27781

Source: City of Cape Town GV2022

FOR PARENTS

How are schools in Riverside?

1 school nearby

Riverside has 1 school within reach. Schools include Macassar Primêre Skool.

Matric results: pass rate data currently covers 157 of 744 suburbs. Riverside will surface when DBE suburb-level data is processed in the next pipeline run. About coverage ›
Q5
Macassar Primêre Skool
Public · Grades R–7 · 1,016 learners · 31.8:1 learner-educator ratio
Quintile 5School fees apply

Quintile 5 is the highest government-funding category - fees apply, but these are the best-resourced public schools in South Africa. Rankings set by the WCED against community socioeconomic index. Learner-educator ratio (LER) is from EMIS Q2 2025; under 30:1 is favourable by WCED standards, over 40:1 indicates strained capacity. What quintile means ›

Source: DBE EMIS · Q2 2025

FOR COMMUTERS

How connected is Riverside?

Connected

Riverside has 22 minibus taxi routes.

Taxi connectivity Ranks this suburb's taxi route access against all 744 Cape Town suburbs. Based on routes matched by name and within 500m of suburb centre. Large suburbs may have higher actual connectivity than shown. Full methodology ›

Connected
22 routes
64th percentile · 20 destinations
Routes pass through Riverside but may not originate or terminate here. Connectivity index reflects geographic proximity to route corridors.
Blackheath, Eerste river, Eerste rivier stasie, Firgrove, Khayelitsha, Kramat +14 more
Based on CCT minibus taxi route data. Routes matched by name and spatial proximity (500m). Methodology ›

Commute mode data is not available for this suburb. The CCT Household Survey covers 163 survey areas; this suburb is outside the surveyed areas.

Source: City of Cape Town Open Data · 2024

FOR RESIDENTS

How responsive are municipal services in Riverside?

Responsive

The City of Cape Town resolves service requests in Riverside in a median of 2 days, compared to the city-wide median of 1 day. This is based on 2,093 service requests to the City of Cape Town.

Computed from City of Cape Town service request data
Below-average municipal responsiveness. A 2-day median resolution is slower than the city median – infrastructure complaints take meaningfully longer to resolve.
2
Median days to resolve
City median: 1
39th
Percentile
across Cape Town
23%
Resolved
same day
Sewerage overflow (35%)Street lights out (6%)Damaged Bin - 240L (5%)Customer reconnection request (5%)Stolen Bins - 240L (4%)
Service requests logged 2 093
Requests resolved 81% (1 689 of 2 093)
75% resolved within 7 days
90% resolved within 19 days
Source CCT service request database
Community & faith

Places of worship

3 registered
Christian
3

Registered places of worship per suburb from City of Cape Town open data. Coverage: 299 of 744 suburbs.

Municipal complaints

Complaints & top issues

Below city average
Complaint rate How is this calculated? 0.0 per 1,000 households
Total complaints 2 086
Unresolved 19.0%

Top issues: SEW: Blocked/Overflow (727), Street Lights - All Lights Out (118), Damaged Bin - 240L (112)

Source: City of Cape Town C3 service requests

FOR FAMILIES

What services are near Riverside?

Well served

Healthcare access

1 within 5km
Nearest public Macassar Clinic · Clinic · 0.5 km
Nearest private Mediclinic Strand · Private Hospital · 8.7 km
Public facilities 1
Private facilities 0

This suburb has public healthcare access but no private facilities within 5 km.

The nearest fire station to Riverside is Macassar, 0.4 km away. The nearest public pool is Khayelitsha Swimming Pool, 8.3 km away. The nearest clinic is Macassar Clinic, 0.5 km away.

Nearest clinic Macassar Clinic · 0.5 km
Nearest library Macassar · 0.3 km
Nearest park / open space Musica Park · 0.32 km

Fire station

0.4
km to nearest
fire station
Macassar
community station
within-5km
response
category

Cape Town has 32 fire stations serving 744 suburbs. Source: CCT open data.

Public swimming pools

8.3
km to nearest
public pool
0
pools
within 5 km
2
pools
within 10 km
Nearest pool Khayelitsha Swimming Pool

Cape Town operates 35 public swimming pools. Source: CCT open data.

Distances straight-line from suburb centroid.

Source: City of Cape Town facility registry

Similar suburbs

Smartie Town R0-200k
88 →
Bell Glen R4-600k
88 →
Macassar Village R0-200k
88 →
Belhar Ext 15 R2-400k
84 →
Belhar Ext 16 R2-400k
84 →
Explore surrounding areas

Bordering suburbs

2 adjacent

Suburbs that border or sit adjacent to Riverside. Each has its own safety profile, property market, and service data.

Chris Hani Park Macassar
Building on this data? Access all 744 suburbs via the free REST API or explore commercial access.
Explore rankings: Safest suburbs Best for families Affordable + safe

Some metrics for this suburb use estimated values. Full methodology ›

Riverside · -34.0656°S, 18.7630°E

Open full map ›