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The large-scale proliferation of enclosed and secured entry-level residential complexes, where the emerging middle classes settle, is particularly prominent in Gauteng and South Africa in general. These gated communities of a new kind are based on the financialization of households thanks to loans and their residents relationship with anxiety, both for the security of goods and people and for the sustainability of their investment. Via these dynamics, they contribute to an unprecedented social transformation of the metropolis and the construction of a middle class through access to bank credit, especially for city dwellers who leave the townships. The relationship between banks and developers and the role of developers in orienting their clientele towards what they imagine to be an aspirational residential experience reveal the reasons for the hegemonic success of these closed complexes. By cross-analysing the perspectives of urban private actors, residents and communities, we can highlight the complexity of the mechanisms involved, as well as a transverse vision of the economic strategies behind this multifaceted development.