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.
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.
Local knowledge
The northern suburbs are where Johannesburg's newer retirement estates have been built. Evergreen Broadacres, Celebration in North Riding and Auria's San Sereno in Bryanston all opened in the past fifteen years, each with a frail care or assisted living centre on the property, and they sit among the suburbs where many of their residents' children already live. Alongside them is a long tail of small, privately run care homes in Bryanston, Randburg, Northcliff and Parktown that take six to forty residents and are often easier to get into than the big centres.
Hospital access is the area's strength. Netcare Sunninghill, Life Fourways, Mediclinic Morningside and Netcare Olivedale are all within fifteen minutes of most of the area, and Netcare Milpark and Charlotte Maxeke are twenty minutes south. OR Tambo is 35 to 50 minutes depending on traffic, Lanseria is 25 minutes from Fourways.
Prices run from about R800,000 for a one-bedroom life-right suite at Evergreen Broadacres to R3 million and more for a villa in Bryanston. Frail care at the established care homes costs roughly R18,000 for a shared room and R23,000 to R30,000 for a private room. Read frail care costs in Gauteng before you phone around, and expect waiting lists at the best-known centres.
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.
Questions families ask
San Sereno in Bryanston and Royal View in Sandringham, both run by Auria, offer independent living through to frail and dementia care. Celebration Retirement Estate in North Riding has a 30-bed frail care centre. Evergreen Broadacres offers assisted living to life-right holders and refers residents to outside care centres for full frail care.
Published rates in 2025 ran from R17,900 a month for a shared room at a small Parktown care home to R22,900 to R25,900 for a private room there, and R26,000 to R30,000 for private rooms and high care at Deansgate in Craighall Park. The big new estates charge more.
Life Fourways Hospital, Netcare Sunninghill and Mediclinic Morningside are the main private hospitals, with Netcare Olivedale to the west. All have 24-hour emergency units.
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.