Post-apartheid South Africa has seen a significant rise of urbanisation. According to official census figures, a total of 53.7% of the South African population were living in urban areas in 1996 and increased to 62.9% by 2011. One of the consequences of this rapid urbanisation is the escalating demand for housing in urban areas. In response to the impact of government initiatives and the inadequacy of the housing market to provide sufficient affordable and sustainable housing, backyard dwellings manifest itself as an innovative response to the housing backlog. On a national scale the occurrence of backyard dwellings as a proportion of total housing has risen from 4.1% in 2001 to 4.9% in 2011. This represents an increase in absolute numbers from 459528 to 712956 (Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), Census South Africa 2001 Cape Town: StatsSA 2001; Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), Census South Africa 2011 Cape Town: StatsSA 2011), and according to (Lemanski, Habitat International 33:472–484, 2009) is increasing at a faster rate than informal settlements. In the City of Cape Town, backyard dwellings has risen from 4.3% of total housing stock in 2001 to 7% in 2011, and in absolute numbers increased from 32747 to 74957. The occurrence of backyard dwellings at this scale has a definite impact on urban structure and poses a number of urban management challenges. The paper investigates the spatial trends and the socio-economic characteristics of backyard households in light of its possible impact on urban form and management within the City of Cape Town.