{"id":870117,"date":"2026-08-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870117"},"modified":"2026-08-13T13:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:01:37","slug":"extra-r7680-blow-for-homeowners-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/870117\/extra-r7680-blow-for-homeowners-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra R7,680 blow for homeowners in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African homeowners are facing a higher monthly financial burden as rising property prices push up home loan costs, despite borrowing costs remaining unchanged over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from eXp Realty South Africa, which noted that its research shows that the estimated average monthly bond repayment has increased by 4.2% over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means the average homebuyer is now paying about R640 more each month, or an additional R7,680 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase has been driven entirely by higher property prices, as the prime lending rate is currently exactly where it was a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis examined the average South African property price, the home loan required after a 10% deposit, the prevailing prime lending rate, and the resulting monthly bond repayment over a 20-year term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These figures were then compared with those from the same period last year to assess how affordability has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the research, the average South African home now costs R1,766,796, representing a 4.2% increase over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on a 10% deposit, buyers would therefore need to put down an average of R176,680 and borrow approximately R1,590,116.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, unlike in periods when lower interest rates helped offset rising property prices, buyers have received no such relief over the past year. The prime lending rate currently stands at 10.50%, unchanged from August last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the South African Reserve Bank cut the repo rate in November 2025, that reduction was reversed in May 2026 when the central bank raised rates for the first time since May 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the estimated monthly repayment on an average home has risen from R15,236 a year ago to R15,875 today, based on a 20-year home loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Thompson, Country Leader of eXp Realty South Africa, said the increase in property prices had been passed directly on to buyers because interest rates had not fallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buyers are becoming more cautious <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
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Andrew Thompson, Country Leader of eXp Realty South Africa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

“House prices have continued to grow at a healthy pace over the last year, which is a positive signal about the underlying strength of the South African market, but with interest rates unchanged, there has been nothing to soften the impact on buyers,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Every rand of that price growth has flowed straight through to the monthly repayment,” Thompson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said buyers were therefore likely to become more careful about what they purchased and how much they were willing to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaun Rademeyer, CEO of MultiNET Home Loans, said the pressure was being felt more through monthly affordability than a lack of willingness by banks to provide finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What we are seeing is not necessarily a lack of appetite from the banks to lend, but rather increasing pressure on the buyer’s monthly affordability,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rademeyer said buyers should also consider the interest rate offered by different banks, rather than focusing only on whether they qualify for a loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Comparing multiple banks and negotiating the interest rate can make a material difference to monthly affordability,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research also suggested that buyers are becoming more cautious about borrowing the maximum amount a bank is prepared to approve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In the current environment, that is a sensible approach. A home should remain affordable not only on the day you buy it, but throughout the interest-rate cycle,” Rademeyer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African homeowners are facing a higher monthly financial burden as rising property prices push up home loan costs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":858706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2087872053902762416","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2174931556660577","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18006700127764714","_sma_x_attempts":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[26157,2922,853],"class_list":["post-870117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-exp-realty-south-africa","tag-interest-rates","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870126,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870117\/revisions\/870126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}