How do I sell my house and buy another at the same time in South Africa?

You can make an offer to purchase a new property subject to the sale of your current home. This allows you to secure the new property while giving you time to sell your existing one.

What costs should I consider when selling a home in South Africa?

Costs may include bond cancellation fees, estate agent commission, compliance certificates such as electrical or gas COC, and potential Capital Gains Tax depending on your situation.

Should I sell my home before buying a new one?

Selling your home first reduces financial risk, as owning two properties at the same time can be costly. Alternatively, you can rent temporarily or negotiate occupation terms with the buyer.

Is it better to use an estate agent or sell privately?

Estate agents handle marketing, negotiations, and paperwork but charge commission. Selling privately saves costs but requires you to manage the entire process yourself.

How long does it take to transfer property in South Africa?

Once documents are lodged at the Deeds Office, property transfer typically takes around 2 to 3 weeks, depending on processing times and documentation.

Get the nitty-gritty about selling and buying a home

Apply now Get pre-qualify

How to sell your home and buy another

Choosing to sell your home and buy another is a big decision. It's not a difficult journey and there are several ways to do it. But doing it properly means you will make the most out of your sale.

Apply now Get pre-qualified

There will come a time in life when you'll want to move because of your needs or circumstances. Then you'll need to sell your current home in order to buy a new one. Because we understand how stressful this can be, we've put together a guide to make selling and buying as easy as possible.

What you need to know about selling and buying again

Plan your finances
What’s the selling price of your current home?

Do your research. Check out listings for houses in your area, and see what the average selling price is and ask estate agents to give you valuations on your home.

How much can you afford on your new home?

Check out prices in the area that you want to buy in. Chat to local estate agents in that area, they can give you a good idea of the kind of prices properties sell for.

Use the affordability calculator to determine what your monthly payments could be.

When is a good time to sell?

This depends on several things and something you will have to think about carefully.

If your home has increased enough in value when you sell, then the price you get will cover your remaining bond repayments and even some of the costs of buying your next home.
Consider your costs
The costs you need to consider:

Early termination and bond cancellation fees (if applicable).

Costs of all clearance certificates (COC) - these must be done before the transfer can be effected, e.g. electrical COC, gas COC (If any gas installations exists), electrical fence COC (if applicable) etc.

Agent commission if you use an estate agent to sell your property.

Capital Gains Tax (if applicable) - we suggest you speak to an attorney to see whether you are liable to pay SARS.

Different tax rules apply depending on whether you're selling your primary residence or a property for investment purposes. Speak to your tax consultant or visit the SARS website for more information.
Prioritise
You want to be sure that you sell your home before you buy a new one. This is important because:

Paying for your current property and a new property at the same time will be costly.

You could sell your property first and rent for a short period.

You can agree with the buyer to occupy your old home for a set period after you have sold it.
Plan your transition
Make sure your family has a roof over their head while you are selling one home and buying another

Put your current home up for sale while you look for your new home.

If you see a property you want to buy but have not sold your current property, you can put in an “offer to purchase” on the new property and make the purchase subject to the sale of your current property.

This lets you secure the new property and gives you some time sell your current home.
Prepare your home
The better your home looks, the more chance there is of selling it:

Declutter your home, make everything look as neat and clean as possible. This will make your house look far more attractive to a potential buyer.

Do all necessary cosmetic repairs and maintenance. Clean your gutters, replace lightbulbs, clean your walls or paint them and more.

Keep your house neat all the time in case a potential buyer wants to quickly view it.

Getting your home sold

You want to get the best price you can for your property and you want to sell it as quickly as you can. You have two options when selling your home:

Use an estate agent

Sell it yourself

An estate agent will handle everything for you:

Advertise your property
Find prospective buyers
Negotiate on the price
Complete all relevant documentation with you such as the “Offer to Purchase” from the buyer
Liaise with attorneys.

You will pay a commission to the agent as a percentage of the sale price.

When selling your home yourself:

You will need to do all the administration and negotiating yourself.
You will need to manage all risks and challenges along the way yourself.
You will have to take the time to show, sell and find buyers.

You pay no extra fees or commission.

Steps to selling your home

1. Buyer signs the Offer to Purchase contract and applies for finance
Once you accept the Offer to Purchase, it becomes a binding agreement of sale.

Your buyer will apply for finance from the bank.

Once approved the legal process can begin.
2. Property transfer is initiated

The agreement of sale must be sent to a transferring attorney who will request the title deed for the property and supporting documents from both the Seller/s and Buyer/s.
3. Buyers bond is registered

Your buyer’s bank will register a mortgage bond against the property as security for the repayment of the loan.
4. Your existing bond is cancelled
If there is an existing mortgage bond over the property, it will be cancelled together with the registration of the transfer and mortgage bond.

The transferring attorney will request a Rates Clearance Certificate from the municipality, and you will be required to pay a few months in advance to obtain the certificate.

They will also do a Deeds Office search to check your property details
5. Legal documents are signed
After this, the attorneys will prepare all the relevant documents for signing by both Seller/s and Buyer/s.

Your buyer will be contacted to sign all the applicable documents.

Your buyer will also pay the transfer costs and transfer duty.
6. Documents are lodged at the deeds office
The transfer, bond registration and bond cancellation documents are lodged with the Deeds Office.

About 2- 3 weeks after lodgement, the documents should be registered and your buyer becomes the new owner on registration.
7. You are paid out

You will then be paid out your proceeds of the sale.