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Property transfer costs in South Africa: what you pay on top of the price

The price on the listing is not what it costs to buy. On top of it you pay transfer duty to SARS, the transfer attorney, and the cost of registering your bond. On a typical home that is tens of thousands of rand in cash, due before you move in.

Updated 15 June 2026 · THL Property Group

Buying a home in South Africa comes with a set of once-off costs the asking price hides. They are not optional, they are not financed into the bond by default, and they catch first-time buyers out. The three big ones are transfer duty, the transfer attorney's fee, and bond registration. There is no estate-agent commission for you to find; the seller pays that.

The single most useful thing to know: transfer duty is zero up to R1,210,000. Below that line you pay no duty at all, which is exactly why so many first homes are priced just under it. Above it, duty climbs in steps and becomes the largest single cost on a pricier home.

Transfer duty (SARS)

Transfer duty is a tax SARS charges on the property's value, paid by the buyer. It works in brackets, like income tax, on the 2026/27 table: nothing up to R1,210,000, then 3% on the slice above that to R1,663,800, then 6%, 8% and 11% on higher slices (and 13% above R13.31 million).

The jump from nothing to a real bill right at R1.21m is why that price point clusters with listings.

The transfer attorney

The property is moved into your name by a conveyancing attorney, appointed by the seller but paid by you. The fee follows a Law Society guideline scale that rises with the price, plus VAT and the Deeds Office fee. On a R1.5m home it runs around R40,000 all in. The scale is a guideline and firms can negotiate, so ask for a written quote.

Bond registration

If you are taking a bond, a second attorney registers it over the property, also at your cost, on a similar scale to the transfer fee. On a R1,350,000 bond that is roughly R38,000. Buy cash with no bond and this cost falls away entirely.

A worked example

Take a R1,500,000 home bought with a 10% deposit, so a R1,350,000 bond.

That is R86,910 in cash, about 5.8% of the price, on top of your deposit, and due before the property registers. On a R1,000,000 home, where duty is zero, the same costs come to about R63,320. Qualifying first-time buyers can put First Home Finance towards some of this.

Plan for it

The deposit is only half the cash story. Budget for the deposit plus roughly 5 to 8% of the price in costs, with the percentage running higher on cheaper homes, because the attorney fees do not shrink as fast as the price does. The Property Analyser and Rent vs Buy both estimate these automatically from your price, so you can see the real cash a purchase needs. For the subsidy that can offset them, see First Home Finance.

Money Cat is an information tool, not financial or legal advice. Transfer duty uses the SARS 2026/27 table; attorney and bond fees are guideline estimates that firms negotiate. Confirm exact costs with your conveyancer.