By town
Old Age Homes · Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Italian-community old age home in Bedfordview offering assisted living, frail care and dementia care, open to all, with Life Bedford Gardens hospital minutes away.
Old Age Homes · Craighall Park, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Long-established Craighall Park village with life-right cottages, a main building of single and shared rooms with meals, and frail and high care. Publishes its prices.
Old Age Homes · Florida, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp & the West Rand
City-owned retirement village in Florida with 175 units for pensioners on limited incomes, offering structured living and essential services at municipal rents.
Retirement Villages · Halfway House, Midrand, Midrand & Waterfall
Long-standing retirement home in Halfway House, Midrand, offering a more affordable alternative to the Waterfall estates, with Netcare Waterfall City ten minutes away.
Old Age Homes · Pretoria North, Centurion, Montana & Pretoria North
Residentia Foundation home in Pretoria North for older persons, with frail, palliative and restorative care, taking residents on the state pension subject to a waiting list.
Old Age Homes · Wilro Park, Roodepoort, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp & the West Rand
The City of Johannesburg's largest pensioner housing scheme, with 214 units in Wilro Park for older residents on limited incomes. Phone about vacancies, rent and who qualifies.
Retirement Villages · Lyttelton, Centurion, Centurion, Montana & Pretoria North
Afrikaans-community retirement village in Lyttelton, Centurion, offering affordable independent units for older residents near the Lyttelton shops and Netcare Unitas.
Frail Care · Riviera, Pretoria East
Non-profit Ons Tuis frail care home in Riviera, central Pretoria, with one of the lowest published frail care rates in the country at about R8,700 a month.
Frail Care · Lombardy East, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Rand Aid's affordable 24-hour frail care centre in Lombardy East, with single rooms sharing a bathroom and en-suite double rooms, in extensive grounds.
Frail Care · President Ridge, Randburg, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Established Randburg retirement home with a frail care centre in President Ridge, close to Netcare Olivedale and the Randburg shopping centres.
The province
Gauteng has more retirement units than any other province and the most under R2 million, which makes it the easiest place in South Africa to find a village a family can afford. It also has the densest network of private hospitals in the country. Netcare, Mediclinic and Life hospitals sit within fifteen minutes of nearly every suburb from Fourways to Faerie Glen, and that matters more at 85 than any sea view.
The market runs from large non-profit life-right villages in the east of Johannesburg, through church and community homes in Pretoria that take the state pension, to new lifestyle estates in Midrand, Broadacres, North Riding and Waterkloof with frail care on site and prices to match. Most families who stay are staying for a reason: the children and grandchildren live here, the GP is here, and the parent knows the roads.
Our town guides cover Johannesburg's northern suburbs, the east of the city and Modderfontein, Roodepoort and the West Rand, Midrand and Waterfall, Pretoria East, and Centurion and Pretoria North. For costs, read frail care costs in Gauteng and retirement village costs in Gauteng.
An old age home (also called a home for the aged or residential care home) provides a room, meals and personal care in one place. Many in the Western Cape are run by churches or non-profit organisations, and some receive a subsidy from the Department of Social Development, which can make them more affordable.
Old age homes vary a great deal, from small family-run houses to large institutions, so a visit is essential.
Questions families ask
For hospital access, choice and price, yes. Gauteng has the most retirement units in the country and leads in units under R2 million. The trade-offs are traffic, water and power interruptions in some municipalities, and the absence of a coast. Families who stay usually do so because their children and doctors are here.
The east of the city (Lyndhurst, Edenvale, Modderfontein and Bedfordview) has the largest cluster, led by the Rand Aid villages. The northern suburbs from Bryanston to Fourways and Broadacres have the newer lifestyle estates, and Midrand's Waterfall estates sit between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Published 2025 and 2026 rates run from about R17,900 for a shared room in a small Parktown care home to R26,000 to R30,000 for private rooms and high care at established Johannesburg villages. Non-profit homes in Pretoria charge from about R8,700, and subsidised homes take most of the state pension.
Yes. The City of Johannesburg runs 29 homes and retirement villages with about 2,000 units for pensioners, and the provincial Department of Social Development funds non-profit homes across the province. Apply early: waiting lists in Gauteng are among the longest in the country.
Yes. Some non-profit homes receive a subsidy from the Department of Social Development for residents who qualify under a means test. Places are limited, and each home will explain its own criteria.