Rent or buy - which leaves you better off?

Transfer duty, bond costs, rates and maintenance against rent plus the deposit invested, year by year, at current South African rates.

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Example data - to be completed. These numbers belong to a sample household. Move the sliders to your own figures →

Buying overtakes renting in year 9

A R 1 800 000 home against R 11 500 a month in rent: after 20 years buying is R 837 146 ahead.

Crossover
year 9
The year buying pulls ahead of renting
Transfer duty
R 21 786
SARS table from 1 April 2026
Buying vs renting at 20 years
R 837 146
Buyer's net worth less the renter's
Bond repayment
R 16 447
A month, over the bond term

What this means

  • Buying overtakes renting after about 8.9 years - sell sooner and renting would have been better.
  • Transfer duty (R 21 786) and attorney costs (R 81 000) are gone the day you buy - that is the hole buying starts in.
  • After 20 years buying is R 837 146 ahead, in rand as spent.
  • Figures are calculations, not advice - no bank, bond originator or agent is recommended.

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Assumptions

  • A R 1 800 000 home with 10% down: R 21 786 transfer duty (SARS, from 1 April 2026) and R 81 000 attorney and Deeds Office costs.
  • A R 1 620 000 bond at 10.75% over 20 years: R 16 447 a month.
  • Rates R 1 200 a month, rising with rent; maintenance 1% of the home's value a year.
  • The home grows 5.2% a year; rent of R 11 500 a month rises 4.7% a year.
  • The renter invests the deposit and buying costs, and every month buying costs more; investments grow 9% a year.
  • Rand as spent (not adjusted for inflation); selling costs, tax on investment growth and insurance are left out.

Where the typical figures come from

  • Transfer duty: SARS, from 1 April 2026 (unchanged from 2025/26) - nothing up to R1 210 000; 3% of the part above R1 210 000; R13 614 + 6% above R1 663 800; R53 544 + 8% above R2 329 300; R106 784 + 11% above R2 994 800; R1 241 456 + 13% above R13 310 000. SARS, Transfer Duty.
  • Attorney and Deeds Office costs: transfer and bond registration fees plus the Deeds Office came to R85 812 on a R2m bonded purchase and R163 796 on R5m (LSSA guideline from 1 July 2026, Deeds Office tariff from 1 April 2026). Each preset's figure is interpolated between those two (an estimate). The bank's initiation fee is not included. MJK Inc, transfer costs.
  • Interest rate (Low 9.75%, Moderate 10.75%, High 11.75%): prime is 10.75% since the Reserve Bank raised the repo rate to 7.25% on 23 September 2026; Low is prime less 1 (our estimate of a good-credit deal); High is prime's 2023-24 peak. Trading Economics, SARB decision 23 Sep 2026.
  • Rent increase (Low 4.1%, Moderate 4.7%, High 7.4%): national rental inflation mid-2026, PayProp's national figure for Q1 2026 (average rent R9 582), and PayProp's Western Cape figure for Q1 2026. PayProp Rental Index, Q1 2026; IOL, July 2026.
  • Property growth (Low 4%, Moderate 5.2%, High 6%): FNB's forecast for the end of 2026, its repeat-sales index for June 2026, and its Q1 2026 average. IOL / FNB, July 2026.
  • Prices (task 731): Starter flat R1 000 000, Townhouse R1 400 000, Family home R1 800 000, Upmarket R3 500 000. First-time buyers paid just over R1.4m and all buyers R1.7m on average in July 2026 (BetterBond); ooba's Q2 2026 average purchase price was R1.77m; ooba's 2026 guide puts Gauteng 1-bed flats at R800 000-R1.2m and executive homes at R2.2m-R3.5m. ooba, property prices 2026; BusinessDay, July 2026.
  • Rents: R8 500, R9 000, R11 500 and R20 000 a month - a 7-8% gross rental yield, which ooba gives as the national norm (Starter flat 10.2% and Upmarket 6.9%, our estimates), checked against PayProp's national average rent of R9 715 (Q2 2026). IOL / PayProp, July 2026.
  • Estimates, not sourced: rates (about 0.95% a year of the value above the R300 000 residential exemption - check your own bill), levies (R1 800 flat, R1 500 townhouse, R2 500 estate), maintenance, the 9% return on the renter's investments, and every preset's attorney costs (interpolated between the two MJK examples). Use your own quote, your own rates bill and a real rental listing.

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