The decision whether to rent or buy your home is one that all South Africans must make – but they do not always have all the facts to make the right choice.
“People often look at rent right now versus the instalment right now, when the decision is a lot more complicated than that,” said Michael Coulter, Head of Product Economics at Standard Bank Home Services.
Coulter explained that such a style of thinking ignores the critical financial benefits of owning your home – benefits that will often save you significant amounts of money over time and contribute meaningfully towards your financial wellbeing.
The first thing to understand, Coulter explained, is that while renting may seem more affordable today, the reality is that you are simply paying for a service.
In contrast, when you make a bond repayment, you are actively increasing your equity in the property you have purchased.
Therefore, if you compare someone who rents for 20 years to someone who repays a 20-year bond, the latter will fully own their home at the end of the term, while the renter will have no asset to show for 20 years of payments.
“You’re essentially paying for accommodation costs either way but instead of simply paying for a place to live, you also gain the benefit of building an investment,” said Coulter.
You have much more financial flexibility when you buy a property and have a bond.
- You can fully pay off your bond, meaning you no longer have to pay a monthly cost to live in your house.
- You can use the equity in your existing property to upgrade to a new home as your life circumstances change.
- You can downscale your home and release value from your bond.
- You can use your bond to improve your home and increase its value.
Rates, maintenance, and utility costs still exist once you have paid off a bond, but they are a fraction of the cost of renting a home.
Monthly payments don’t stay the same
It is also not an accurate reflection to look at your current rental cost and compare it to what would be your first monthly bond repayment.
All this tells you is what you will pay next month – you cannot extrapolate this monthly cost difference for years to come.
Rental payments are adjusted regularly – often annually – and are almost always increased.
These adjustments are impacted by market demand, inflation, and supply constraints, all of which contribute to increasing monthly costs.
Home loan repayments, on the other hand, may either increase or decrease depending on changes to the repo and prime interest rates.
Beyond this, they will remain relatively stable over long periods if the repo and prime interest rates remain unchanged.
While your bond repayment is likely to be a bit more expensive in the short term, this is not necessarily true in the long term.
Buying is surprisingly accessible
The data shows that most South Africans want to own their own homes.
According to the Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025, 89% of renting respondents said they wanted to own their own home, and 74% of respondents said it is hard to feel secure in life without home ownership.
The reason many don’t buy their own home can often be boiled down to the initial cost of doing so.
However, home ownership is more accessible than you may think, and these initial costs don’t have to be prohibitive.
Firstly, you do not need to start off with buying your dream house. Instead, buying a more affordable property, which meets your immediate needs can help you get on the property ladder.
This can be a smaller property, or one that is in a different location from where you eventually want to live.
Entering the market earlier – even if the property isn’t your dream home – is the best way to build equity, benefit from long-term value, and put yourself in a position to eventually buy your dream home.
Further simplifying the process is gaining access to the right financial support.
Standard Bank, for example, offers benefits to first-time buyers such as a 50% discount on bond registration fees and up to 108% financing.
The 108% financing means you don’t have to wait until you have set aside enough cash for a deposit and you can use the remaining 8% to cover registration fees and transfer costs.
It also offers powerful tools and guidance that help customers through the process of securing a bond and buying their first home.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Standard Bank approves more first-time home buyers than any other bank.
See if you qualify
Standard Bank also makes it easy to understand how much you could spend on a home through its simple Do-I-Qualify tool.
It will consider your income level, credit record, and other relevant data to determine the bond you qualify for.
“Understanding the size of home loan you could qualify for is a powerful way to assess whether you’re ready to buy your own home and the kind of properties in your price bracket,” said Coulter.
