Is it worth refinancing your home loan right now?
It depends on the size of the rate gap you can actually get, your outstanding balance, your remaining term, and how long you plan to keep the property — not on whether prime has gone up or down. What changes after 2 MPC hikes this year is the base the gap is added to: at today's 10.75% prime rate (SARB, effective 2026-09-25), the same 0.50 percentage point gap between a current rate and a better offer is worth more in rand terms than it was before prime reached 10.75%.
Here is bond.co.za's own calculation, computed from the standard South African annuity formula, comparing a bond currently priced at 11.50% against a more competitive offer of 11.00% — a realistic size of gap when shopping a bond around, not a guaranteed quote — over a 20-year term:
| Bond size | Monthly at 11.50% | Monthly at 11.00% | Monthly saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| R 900 000 | R 9 598 | R 9 290 | R 308 |
| R 1 500 000 | R 15 996 | R 15 483 | R 514 |
| R 2 500 000 | R 26 661 | R 25 805 | R 856 |
On the R 1 500 000 bond, that gap is worth R 514 a month — R 123 268 over the full 20-year term — before weighing up what switching itself costs. To run this against your own bond size, use the bond repayment calculator.
What happens when you refinance a home loan?
Refinancing (also called bond switching) is a new credit application and a new bond registration, not a transfer of your existing one. A new lender reassesses your income, expenses and credit record, orders its own property valuation, and — if it approves the application — registers a new bond at the Deeds Office while your old bond is settled and cancelled, usually coordinated to happen together. There is no transfer duty, because ownership of the property does not change; only the bond over it does.
On the same R 1 500 000 example, the new bond registration side comes to:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Bond attorney (conveyancing) fee, incl. VAT | R 37 530 |
| Deeds Office bond registration fee | R 1 738 |
| Bank initiation fee, incl. VAT | R 6 038 |
That is roughly R 45 306 in new-bond registration costs on a R 1 500 000 bond. Set against the R 514 monthly saving from the 0.50 percentage point scenario above, the saving only clears those costs after about 88 months — before that point, the switch is still costing more than it has saved. You may also face early-settlement or notice costs on your old bond; your current bank sets those terms, so confirm them directly before committing to a switch date. For the full step-by-step process, see how bond switching works in South Africa.
What are the disadvantages of refinancing a home loan?
- A full new credit and affordability assessment happens regardless of your track record on the existing bond — a stronger offer is not guaranteed.
- New bond registration costs (attorney, Deeds Office and bank initiation fees) are due once the new bond registers, whether or not the rate gap ends up being worth it in hindsight.
- Your current bank may match or beat the new offer once you ask — in which case the switching costs above were never necessary.
- A short remaining term, or plans to sell soon, can mean the monthly saving never has time to outweigh the upfront costs.
(Last updated 3 October 2026. Prime rate figure verified against the SARB September 2026 MPC statement. The 0.50 percentage point comparison and the registration-cost total above are bond.co.za illustrative scenarios computed at render, not quotes — your own offer and costs will depend on your bank, bond size and credit profile.)