# Private Property Scraper (`crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper`) Actor

Scrape PrivateProperty.co.za - a major South African property portal. Search for-sale and to-rent listings by province, property type, price, and bedrooms/bathrooms, or fetch full listing detail pages: description, exact property details, room-by-room features, and photo galleries.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Private Property Scraper

Scrape [Private Property](https://www.privateproperty.co.za), one of South Africa's major property portals — for-sale and to-rent listings across every province, property type (house, apartment, townhouse, vacant land, farm, commercial), price range, and bedroom/bathroom count. Fetch search results in bulk, or pull full listing detail pages: description, exact property details, room-by-room features, and photo galleries. No login, no cookies, no paid API key.

### What this actor does

- **Two modes:** `search` (browse/filter listings) and `byUrls` (exact lookup by listing URL)
- **All 9 South African provinces, or nationwide** — Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape, or "All of South Africa" to search the whole country in one run
- **7 property types** — house, apartment/flat, townhouse, vacant land/plot, farm/smallholding, commercial, or any
- **For sale or to rent**
- **Bank-assisted sales & repossessions** — search Private Property's dedicated repossessed-property category instead of the regular market
- **Filters:** price range, minimum bedrooms, minimum bathrooms
- **Optional deep data:** full description, exact property details table (listing number, property type, listing date, land/floor size), and every room-by-room feature (bedrooms, bathrooms, lounges, garages, pool, security, etc.)
- **Empty fields are omitted** — you only ever see fields with real data

### Output per listing

**Always present (search mode):**

- `listingId`, `listingUrl`, `sourceUrl`
- `transactionType`, `propertyType`
- `location`, `province`
- `titleText`, `price` (or `priceOnApplication`), `pricePeriod` (rentals only — `perMonth`/`perDay`/`perWeek`/`perYear`; standard rentals are `perMonth`, short-term/holiday lets are `perDay`/`perWeek`)
- `bedrooms`, `bathrooms`, `garages`
- `imageUrl`
- `isBankRepossession` (only when `bankRepossessionsOnly: true`)
- `recordType: "propertyListing"`, `scrapedAt`

**With `includeFullDetails: true` or `mode: byUrls`, additionally:**

- `title`, `description`
- `parkingSpaces`, `landSizeSqm`, `floorSizeSqm`
- `propertyDetails` — listing number, property type, listing date, land size, floor size, and any other fields the agent filled in (varies by listing type)
- `features` — full room-by-room and amenity breakdown (bedrooms, bathrooms, lounges, dining areas, garage parking, pool, security, pet friendly, built-in braai, etc.) as reported by the agent
- `listingNumber`
- `images[]` — full gallery of listing photos
- `primaryImageUrl`

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` | `search` / `byUrls` |
| `transactionType` | string | `forSale` | `forSale` / `toRent` |
| `propertyType` | string | `any` | `any` / `house` / `apartment` / `townhouse` / `land` / `farm` / `commercial` |
| `province` | string | `gauteng` | Any of the 9 SA provinces, or `southAfrica` for a nationwide search |
| `priceMin` / `priceMax` | int | – | Price range in ZAR |
| `bedroomsMin` / `bathroomsMin` | int | – | Minimum room counts |
| `bankRepossessionsOnly` | bool | `false` | Search Private Property's Bank Assisted Sales & Repossessions category instead of the regular market (forces `transactionType` to `forSale`) |
| `sortBy` | string | `default` | `default` / `priceLowToHigh` / `priceHighToLow` / `mostBedrooms` |
| `listingUrls` | array | – | Private Property listing URLs (mode=byUrls) |
| `includeFullDetails` | bool | `false` | Fetch full detail page per listing (1 extra request each) |
| `maxItems` | int | `20` | Hard cap (1–500) |

#### Example: 3+ bedroom houses for sale in Western Cape under R3.5M

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "transactionType": "forSale",
  "propertyType": "house",
  "province": "westernCape",
  "priceMax": 3500000,
  "bedroomsMin": 3,
  "includeFullDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

#### Example: apartments to rent in Gauteng, cheapest first

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "transactionType": "toRent",
  "propertyType": "apartment",
  "province": "gauteng",
  "sortBy": "priceLowToHigh",
  "maxItems": 30
}
```

#### Example: full details for a specific listing

```json
{
  "mode": "byUrls",
  "listingUrls": [
    "https://www.privateproperty.co.za/for-sale/gauteng/east-rand/alberton/alberton-north/T5580463"
  ]
}
```

> Note: individual listings sell/get delisted over time — if a URL you saved earlier no longer resolves, the actor reports "None of the given listingUrls could be resolved" (0 records, no crash) rather than fabricating data. Re-run `mode: search` to get current listing URLs.

#### Example: bank-repossessed houses in KwaZulu-Natal

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "bankRepossessionsOnly": true,
  "propertyType": "house",
  "province": "kwazuluNatal",
  "maxItems": 30
}
```

### Use cases

- **Real estate market research** — track average prices and inventory by province and property type
- **Investment analysis** — filter for yield-friendly price/bedroom combinations
- **Relocation / home search** — build a shortlist of matching listings with full property details
- **Portfolio monitoring** — re-run `byUrls` on saved listings to track price changes over time
- **Content & comparison sites** — pull structured listing data (features, images, descriptions) for aggregation

### Limitations

- Agent/agency contact details are loaded by the live site via client-side JavaScript after the page renders, so they are not present in the server-rendered HTML the actor fetches and are not included in the output.
- Price/bedroom/bathroom filters are applied by the actor after fetching listings (not sent as query parameters to Private Property) for reliability — the actor always fetches the plain, unfiltered category page and filters client-side.
- Private Property's servers occasionally return a transient error on a specific page of results even after all retry tiers (automatic retries, Apify Proxy escalation, and a TLS-impersonating fallback client are all in place). When this happens the actor keeps whatever it already gathered and stops early rather than hanging or returning broken data.
- `imageUrl` / `images[]` values are served by images.pp.co.za, which returns `405 Method Not Allowed` for `HEAD` requests but `200 image/jpeg` for normal `GET` requests (the same way a browser or `<img>` tag loads them) — this is a CDN quirk, not a broken link.
- `bedrooms`/`bathrooms` are scraped faithfully from what the listing agent entered on Private Property. On rare listings the agent's own numeric entry is inconsistent with the listing's free-text description (e.g. a "3.5 bathrooms" description next to a raw bathroom count field the agent typed without the decimal point) — the actor reports the site's own structured value rather than guessing a corrected number from the description text.

### FAQ

**Is this official Private Property data?** Yes — it's parsed directly from Private Property's own listing and search-result pages, including their structured `Residence` schema.org markup.

**Do I need an account or API key?** No. The actor requires no login, cookies, or user-supplied credentials.

**Why do some listings show `priceOnApplication` instead of a price?** Some sellers/agents list "Price on Application" or "Contact agent" instead of a fixed price — the actor reports this instead of guessing a number.

**Why do some `toRent` listings have a `pricePeriod` of `perDay` or `perWeek` instead of `perMonth`?** Most Private Property rentals are standard monthly leases, but a minority are short-term/holiday lets priced per day or per week — the actor reports the site's own period label so a R1,800/day short-let isn't mistaken for an ultra-cheap R1,800/month lease. `priceMin`/`priceMax` compare the raw number regardless of period, so mixed-period results are possible in `toRent` searches; check `pricePeriod` on each record before comparing prices across listings.

**Why do `propertyDetails`/`features` fields vary between listings?** Private Property lets agents fill in different fields per property type (e.g. "Land size" for houses, "Levies" for sectional-title units). The actor passes through whatever the agent actually filled in — no invented values.

**What's the difference between `search` and `byUrls`?** `search` browses/filters by province, property type, and price/bedrooms. `byUrls` does an exact lookup for listing URLs you already have (e.g. from a previous `search` run) and always includes full details.

**What is `bankRepossessionsOnly`?** Private Property runs a dedicated "Bank Assisted Sales & Repossessions" category for properties banks are selling after repossession — typically priced below market. Setting `bankRepossessionsOnly: true` searches that category instead of the regular market; listings themselves are otherwise normal for-sale properties (same detail pages, same fields), just tagged `isBankRepossession: true`.

**How often does this data change?** Private Property listings, prices, and availability are live — the actor always fetches current data, no caching.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to fetch.

## `transactionType` (type: `string`):

Buy or rent listings (mode=search).

## `propertyType` (type: `string`):

Filter by property category (mode=search).

## `province` (type: `string`):

South African province to search, or all of South Africa (mode=search).

## `priceMin` (type: `integer`):

Minimum listing price in South African Rand.

## `priceMax` (type: `integer`):

Maximum listing price in South African Rand.

## `bedroomsMin` (type: `integer`):

Only include listings with at least this many bedrooms.

## `bathroomsMin` (type: `integer`):

Only include listings with at least this many bathrooms.

## `bankRepossessionsOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Search Private Property's dedicated Bank Assisted Sales & Repossessions category instead of the regular market (mode=search). Always for-sale (forces `transactionType` to `forSale`); property type/price/bedroom/bathroom filters still apply.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Order emitted results (mode=search).

## `listingUrls` (type: `array`):

Full Private Property listing URLs to fetch directly, e.g. `https://www.privateproperty.co.za/for-sale/gauteng/east-rand/alberton/alberton-north/T5580463`.

## `includeFullDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each listing's detail page for full description, exact property details, and room-by-room features. Adds one extra request per listing, so runs are slower. Always on for mode=byUrls.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted records.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "transactionType": "forSale",
  "propertyType": "any",
  "province": "gauteng",
  "bankRepossessionsOnly": false,
  "sortBy": "default",
  "listingUrls": [],
  "includeFullDetails": false,
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `listings` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped Private Property listings.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "transactionType": "forSale",
    "propertyType": "any",
    "province": "gauteng",
    "bankRepossessionsOnly": false,
    "sortBy": "default",
    "listingUrls": [],
    "includeFullDetails": false,
    "maxItems": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "transactionType": "forSale",
    "propertyType": "any",
    "province": "gauteng",
    "bankRepossessionsOnly": False,
    "sortBy": "default",
    "listingUrls": [],
    "includeFullDetails": False,
    "maxItems": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "search",
  "transactionType": "forSale",
  "propertyType": "any",
  "province": "gauteng",
  "bankRepossessionsOnly": false,
  "sortBy": "default",
  "listingUrls": [],
  "includeFullDetails": false,
  "maxItems": 20
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,crawlerbros/privateproperty-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/uu4eYGqqPhfbzjkCf/builds/ge1eyZo7NVrsgEvO4/openapi.json