Transfer Cost Calculator with Bond Costs, South Africa 2026
Calculate transfer duty (or VAT, if it applies instead), conveyancing fees, bond attorney costs and initiation fees for any SA property purchase. Every related cost in one place.
Quick answer: This is also a transfer duty calculator. South African transfer duty is exempt below R1,210,000, then charged on a sliding scale up to 13% on the portion of the property value above the top bracket (SARS Budget Tax Guide, effective 1 April 2025, confirmed unchanged for 2027). If you're buying from a VAT-registered seller instead, VAT applies and transfer duty does not. The two are never both payable. Conveyancing and bond registration fees are added on top as separate costs either way.
Transfer Cost Calculator
Transfer duty (2026 SARS brackets) or VAT, conveyancing fees, bond attorney costs and bank initiation fee
Full Cost Breakdown
| Cost Item | Amount | Notes |
|---|
Conveyancing and bond attorney fees use the Law Society of South Africa's 2026 fee guideline, which is voluntary. Your attorney may charge less or more. Always obtain a formal cost estimate before signing.
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How to Use This Calculator
- Purchase PriceEnter the full purchase price of the property you are buying.
- Bond Amount (if applicable)Enter your bond amount to include bond registration costs, or leave it at 0 if buying cash.
- VAT Sale ToggleTurn this on if you are buying from a VAT-registered seller, e.g. a developer selling new-build units. VAT applies instead of transfer duty. Then choose whether your entered price already includes VAT or excludes it.
- Bond Initiation Fee (bank charge)Edit the default of R6,037.50 if your bank charges a different amount.
- Click Calculate Transfer & Bond CostsReview your transfer duty (or VAT breakdown) payable, conveyancing attorney fees, bond registration costs, and total cash required upfront.
🧮 How does SA compare internationally? OurCalculators.com covers property transfer costs, mortgage repayments and inheritance tax for the UK, US and Canada, with 30+ free calculators.
OurCalculators.com ↗SARS Transfer Duty Rates 2026: Current Brackets
These rates apply from 1 April 2025 (2026/27 tax year) and are confirmed unchanged for 2027. Source: SARS Budget Tax Guide 2026.
| Property Value | Rate |
|---|---|
| R0 – R1,210,000 | 0% (exempt) |
| R1,210,001 – R1,663,800 | 3% on value above R1,210,000 |
| R1,663,801 – R2,329,300 | R13,614 + 6% on value above R1,663,800 |
| R2,329,301 – R2,994,800 | R53,544 + 8% on value above R2,329,300 |
| R2,994,801 – R13,310,000 | R106,784 + 11% on value above R2,994,800 |
| R13,310,001 and above | R1,241,456 + 13% on value above R13,310,000 |
Note: Since 23 February 2011, companies, close corporations and trusts pay transfer duty on the same sliding scale as individuals, including the R1,210,000 exemption. When you buy from a VAT-registered developer, VAT is included in the price and transfer duty does not apply.
Worked Examples: What You Will Actually Pay
The following examples use the 2026 SARS brackets, the Law Society of South Africa's 2026 conveyancing fee guideline for both the transfer and the bond registration, and the Deeds Office fee scale gazetted in February 2026 (plus its R52 lodgement fee). All figures include VAT on attorney fees at 15%.
| Cost Item | R750,000 Cash purchase |
R1,500,000 R1.2m bond |
R2,500,000 R2.0m bond |
R4,000,000 R3.2m bond |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer Duty (SARS) | R0 | R8,700 | R67,200 | R217,356 |
| Conveyancing Fee + VAT | R25,340 | R37,530 | R49,720 | R66,786 |
| Deeds Office Fees | R1,398 | R1,790 | R2,460 | R2,460 |
| Postage & Sundries | R850 | R850 | R850 | R850 |
| Transfer Costs (no bond) | R27,588 | R48,870 | R120,230 | R287,452 |
| Bond Registration Costs | – | R34,444 | R44,196 | R59,494 |
| Total Cash Required | R27,588 | R83,314 | R164,426 | R346,946 |
| Transfer Costs as % of Price | 3.7% | 3.3% | 4.8% | 7.2% |
Attorney fees follow the Law Society's 2026 fee guideline (in force from 1 July 2026), which is not a minimum or maximum. Bond registration costs shown exclude the bank's initiation fee (up to R6,037.50), which the calculator adds. Transfer costs are paid in cash: they cannot be included in the bond unless your bank specifically agrees.
Transfer Costs as a Percentage of Purchase Price
Use this table to budget quickly. Percentages cover transfer costs only (no bond registration). With a bond of 80% of the price at R1.5m and above, bond registration adds roughly 1.5–2.3% of the purchase price; on cheaper properties or larger bonds the percentage is higher.
| Purchase Price | Transfer Duty | All Transfer Costs | % of Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| R750,000 | R0 | ~R27,600 | 3.7% |
| R1,000,000 | R0 | ~R32,700 | 3.3% |
| R1,210,000 | R0 | ~R37,700 | 3.1% |
| R1,500,000 | R8,700 | ~R48,900 | 3.3% |
| R2,000,000 | R33,786 | ~R78,800 | 3.9% |
| R2,500,000 | R67,200 | ~R120,200 | 4.8% |
| R3,000,000 | R107,356 | ~R165,300 | 5.5% |
| R4,000,000 | R217,356 | ~R287,500 | 7.2% |
What Are Transfer Costs?
Transfer costs are the fees a buyer pays, on top of the purchase price, to legally transfer a property into their name in South Africa. They are separate from your deposit and your bond. They are paid up front, and they catch many first-time buyers by surprise: on an average home they can run to tens of thousands of rand. This calculator breaks them down so you know the full cash you need before you make an offer.
Transfer Duty vs Conveyancing Fees vs Bond Registration
There are three distinct costs people lump together. Transfer duty is a government tax paid to SARS, calculated on the 2026 sliding scale starting at R1,210,000. Conveyancing (transfer attorney) fees are what the transferring attorney charges to handle the transfer in the Deeds Office, plus deeds office and sundry fees. Bond registration costs are a separate set of attorney fees to register your home loan, payable only if you are buying with a bond.
Understanding the Conveyancing Fee Scale
Conveyancing fees in South Africa are not set by law. The Law Society of South Africa publishes a fee guideline, which is voluntary and states that conveyancing fees are negotiable and the amounts are not minimum or maximum fees. The 2026 guideline, in force from 1 July 2026, links the fee to the purchase price in bands. On a R1,500,000 purchase the guideline fee is R32,635 before VAT, rising to R47,475 on a R3,000,000 purchase. VAT at 15% is charged on top of the attorney's fee. This calculator uses the guideline figure, so a firm that charges less or more will move your real cost below or above the result.
If you are buying with a bond, the bank's attorneys charge a separate bond registration fee to register the mortgage bond in the Deeds Office. This is an entirely separate engagement from the transfer attorney. On the same guideline, a R1,200,000 bond carries registration costs of approximately R34,400 including Deeds Office fees and VAT. This bond registration costs calculator shows that figure as its own isolated subtotal in the breakdown table above, alongside the transfer costs. Enter your purchase price and bond amount together to see both broken out separately.
SARS Transfer Duty 2026: What Changed
The 2026 Budget updated the transfer duty brackets with effect from 1 April 2025. The exemption threshold increased from R1,100,000 to R1,210,000, and all bracket boundaries were adjusted. The 2027 Budget confirmed no further changes. A buyer purchasing at R1,200,000 pays zero transfer duty, a saving of R3,000 compared to the previous schedule.
VAT or Transfer Duty: Which Applies to Your Purchase?
Every property purchase in South Africa attracts one of the two, never both. SARS is explicit on this: a property sale is subject to either VAT or transfer duty, and VAT takes preference where it applies. Which one you owe depends entirely on the seller, not on the property or the price.
VAT applies when the seller is a registered VAT vendor and the property forms part of their enterprise. In practice, this is almost always a developer selling new-build units, or a business selling commercial property it used to trade from. When VAT applies, it replaces transfer duty completely, regardless of purchase price. There is no R1,210,000 threshold or sliding scale the way there is with transfer duty. The 15% VAT is built into the price, not billed as a separate line item on top of it.
Transfer duty applies in every other case: the seller is a private individual, or a VAT-registered business selling a property that was not part of their trading enterprise (a landlord's personal investment property, for instance, even if the landlord happens to run an unrelated VAT-registered business). This covers the overwhelming majority of residential resales.
Use the calculator's VAT sale toggle above to switch between the two. If you're not sure which applies to your purchase, ask the seller or your conveyancing attorney directly whether the sale is VAT-registered. This should also be stated in the offer to purchase.
Who Pays, and When
In South Africa the buyer pays the transfer costs, not the seller. The seller pays the estate agent's commission and their own bond cancellation costs. Transfer costs are due before registration: the transferring attorney will ask you to pay them into trust once the transfer process begins, typically a few weeks before registration.
When You Pay No Transfer Duty
You pay no transfer duty if the purchase price is at or below R1,210,000 (the current SARS threshold), or if the sale is a VAT sale instead (see above). You still pay conveyancing and, if applicable, bond registration costs in either case. By comparison, UK buyers pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on a similar sliding scale, reaching 12% on amounts above £1.5 million, while US buyers face closing costs of 2–5% of the purchase price. OurCalculators.com covers international property transfer and stamp duty calculators for UK, US and Canadian buyers.
Want every cost on one printable page? Get the free Transfer Cost Checklist →
Frequently Asked Questions
Transfer duty is charged on a sliding scale. The current 2026 SARS schedule sets the exemption threshold at R1,210,000, and no duty is payable below this. Above R1,210,000 the rate rises through bands of 3%, 6%, 8%, 11% and 13%. The calculator applies the current brackets for you.
Transfer duty is calculated on the purchase price using a progressive sliding scale: the portion below R1,210,000 is exempt, and higher portions are taxed at rising percentages. It is not a flat percentage of the whole price, which is why the calculator works it out band by band rather than applying a single rate.
Under the current 2026 SARS schedule, no transfer duty is payable on properties up to R1,210,000. Properties above this threshold pay duty only on the portion above R1,210,000, at rates starting at 3%. This threshold was increased from R1,100,000 in the 2026 Budget.
Conveyancing fees are what the transferring attorney charges to handle the transfer through the Deeds Office, plus deeds office and sundry charges. This calculator uses the Law Society of South Africa's 2026 conveyancing fee guideline, which is linked to the purchase price and is not a minimum or maximum, so your attorney may charge less or more. The fee is separate from transfer duty and from any bond registration costs, and is paid by the buyer. VAT at 15% is charged on the attorney fee.
Transfer duty is one component: the government tax paid to SARS. Transfer costs is the broader term covering everything the buyer pays to transfer the property: transfer duty plus conveyancing (attorney) fees, deeds office fees and sundries, and, if financing, separate bond registration costs.
The buyer pays the transfer costs, including transfer duty and the transferring attorney's fees. The seller pays the estate agent's commission and the cost of cancelling any existing bond. This split is standard practice in South African property transactions.
Transfer duty and conveyancing fees are normally paid in cash up front and are not automatically part of the home loan, though some banks offer to finance costs by granting a bond slightly above the purchase price for strong applicants. Plan to have the transfer costs available as cash unless your bank specifically agrees otherwise.
Usually not. When you buy a new property directly from a VAT-registered developer, the price includes VAT instead of transfer duty, so you do not pay both. You still pay conveyancing fees and, if you take a bond, bond registration costs. Confirm the VAT position with the developer and your attorney.
Never both, and you don't need to work it out yourself: ask the seller or your conveyancing attorney directly whether the sale is VAT-registered, since this depends entirely on the seller's own status, not on the property or the price. If it's a VAT sale, most commonly a new-build bought directly from a developer, use this calculator's VAT sale toggle to see the VAT breakdown instead of transfer duty.
Only if the seller is a VAT-registered vendor selling the property as part of their business, which is most common with new-build residential units bought directly from a developer. A private individual selling their own home is not VAT-registered for that sale, so the buyer pays transfer duty instead. Commercial property sales are more often VAT sales, since the seller is more likely to be a VAT-registered business.
The buyer does, but it is built into the advertised purchase price rather than billed as a separate cost. New-build listings from VAT-registered developers are normally advertised VAT-inclusive, so check with the developer or your attorney whether the figure you have been quoted already includes the 15% VAT before budgeting your other costs around it.
A typical transfer takes around 8 to 12 weeks from acceptance of the offer to registration in the Deeds Office, depending on bond approval, compliance certificates, rates clearance and Deeds Office turnaround. Delays in any of these steps can extend the timeline, so build in a buffer when planning your move.
The current transfer duty exemption threshold is R1,210,000, confirmed in the 2026 SARS Budget Tax Guide and unchanged for 2027. Properties purchased at or below this price pay zero transfer duty. Above R1,210,000, duty is charged on the excess at progressive rates starting at 3%.
On a R2,000,000 purchase in 2026: transfer duty to SARS is approximately R33,786, conveyancing attorney fees including VAT are approximately R42,406 on the Law Society's fee guideline, and Deeds Office fees and sundries add roughly R2,640, bringing total transfer costs to approximately R78,800. If you are taking a bond of R1,600,000, add approximately R39,300 for bond registration costs, bringing total upfront cash to approximately R118,000 on top of your deposit, before the bank's initiation fee (up to R6,037.50).
Transfer costs (duty + conveyancing + deeds + sundries) are based on the purchase price. Bond registration costs (bond attorney fee + bond Deeds Office fees) are based on the loan amount. Add both together for total upfront cash required beyond your deposit. Use the calculator above: enter both the purchase price and the bond amount to see the full combined figure.
The transfer attorney (conveyancer) is appointed by the seller and handles transferring ownership of the property in the Deeds Office, and you pay their fee as part of transfer costs. The bond attorney is appointed by the bank and handles registering the mortgage bond, and you also pay their fee as bond registration costs. They are entirely separate attorneys working in parallel, which is why you pay two sets of fees.
Yes: this bond and transfer cost calculator works as a standalone transfer duty calculator too. Leave the bond amount at zero and it shows only the SARS transfer duty and conveyancing fees, with no bond registration costs added. Enter a bond amount and it becomes a combined bond registration costs calculator alongside the transfer cost figures, giving you the full cash-upfront total in one place.