BONUS - RUSTENBURG - Owning your own home represents stability, legacy, and long-term financial security. However, renting is increasingly seen as a strategic financial decision offering the financial control needed to build your future on your own terms.
Buying a home comes with major expenses: the deposit (usually around 10% of the purchase price), legal fees, transfer duty, bond registration and bank charges. Once the sale is final, the bills continue: rates, levies, insurance, maintenance and security.
Renters, by contrast, generally pay a single, predictable monthly amount and are protected from the volatility of rising bond repayments and are better able to plan ahead with fairly consistent monthly costs, and in most cases, major repairs and maintenance are the landlord’s responsibility.
Renting offers far greater flexibility than ownership and if your circumstances change, moving on from a rental is far less complicated than selling a property. Also, one of the clearest advantages of renting is the ability to save aggressively or remain mobile while avoiding the commitment of a long-term bond.
With interest rates still elevated, many South Africans are waiting before entering the property market. Renting can help make this possible by freeing up income to put towards a deposit and other costs.
“A common mistake is signing a lease at the highest rent you can afford, simply for short-term comfort or lifestyle,” says Paul Stevens, CEO of Just Property. Doing this undermines one of the key advantages of renting – the ability to save. If your rental takes up your full budget, there’s little room to set money aside for a deposit, emergencies or other goals.
“A better strategy is to rent below your affordability threshold,” he continues. “Let’s assume you can afford a bond repayment for around R15 000 per month. If you are disciplined and rent for R10 000, you can save the R5 000 difference towards your deposit; every year, you’d be putting away R60 000 and would have your deposit in just over two years.”
A home loan is one of the biggest debts most of us will ever take on. This doesn’t mean buying property is the wrong decision, but it reinforces the idea that renting, when combined with smart financial planning, can be a strategic phase in wealth creation.
What matters, is how you use your time. Renting gives you options, offers more freedom and less commitment, more liquidity and less risk, more financial control and less pressure.
