Home improvement
Compare Home Improvement Loans in South Africa
Compare ways to finance renovations and home improvements in South Africa, from personal loans and retailer-linked finance to access bonds, readvances and further bonds.
A renovation is not automatically secured against the house. The finance structure is printed on each card. Using equity can increase the interest you pay on the bond and can extend the time it takes to repay it.
Checked by the WiT Money editorial team on 28 October 2026. These products are not marked as open for new applications. No rating or approval rate is shown.
Six different ways to pay for the work
An unsecured personal loan is repaid from income. The house is not newly mortgaged. Absa's home-improvement personal loan is in this group, and the published terms say credit life insurance is mandatory on that product.
Capitec's home-improvement loan is paid to a participating building retailer against a quote or invoice, up to R500 000 and up to 84 months, from prime depending on the profile. It is not unrestricted cash, and it is not automatically secured against the property.
A readvance uses capacity in a bond you already have, often without a new registration. Absa's published readvance says no new bond registration. A further advance registers more security, and the published terms say registration costs apply. Standard Bank and Nedbank describe both routes.
Investec's record is a residential building bond or renovation finance for private-bank clients, secured by the property. Building work can also need approved plans, a contractor and, where the law requires it, NHBRC enrolment. The lender does not replace those checks.
Providers checked
Product details were checked on 28 October 2026. A name on a card is not a recommendation and not a quotation. The button opens the lender's homepage.
8 research records. A missing amount or term is not treated as zero or as unlimited. A product stays in the list when the figure you need was not published. Meeting a published threshold does not guarantee approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
Promotion 22 Aug 2026–31 Jul 2027 is time-sensitive; do not hardcode as permanent.
- Amount
- Property value and affordability dependent
- Term
- Quote dependent
- Interest
- Home loan rate/quote
Advantages
- Potentially home-loan rate
- access property equity
Limitations
- New registration costs
- housing asset at risk
View details
- Fees
- Further bond registration costs apply; limited time contribution promotion
- Security
- Residential property mortgage
- Eligibility
- Existing bond; valuation, income and affordability review
- Role
- Further mortgage advance
- Product note
- Additional registered bond against property
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Not confirmed as secured against the property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
Do not label secured merely because funds used on property.
- Amount
- R3 000 to R350 000. Published as a from-and-up-to partnership range.
- Term
- From 12 months. Published as 12 months or longer. The maximum is not stated.
- Interest
- Personalised
- How funds are paid
- Paid to a participating retailer or against a quote, not as unrestricted cash.
- Published income figure
- R2 000 a month in the researched eligibility text. It is not an approval.
Advantages
- Dedicated home improvement use
- Cashbuild route
Limitations
- Credit life insurance mandatory for this personal loan
- borrowing cost
View details
- Fees
- Initiation/service and mandatory credit life: verify agreement
- Security
- Typically unsecured personal lending; confirm product
- Eligibility
- Regular income from R2,000 pm, 18+, bank account; income proof
- Role
- Personal loan; generally separate from mortgage
- Product note
- Home improvement loans and Cashbuild partnership
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
- Amount
- Available paid-down principal; amount case-by-case
- Term
- Linked to existing home loan / reassessed
- Interest
- Mortgage rate/quote
Advantages
- Access existing bond capacity without new bond registration
Limitations
- Puts home at risk
- may increase total interest
View details
- Fees
- No new bond registration on cited readvance; other charges verify
- Security
- Residential property mortgage
- Eligibility
- Existing Absa home loan; valuation and credit assessment
- Role
- Mortgage-backed further borrowing
- Product note
- Readvance of existing registered loan
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Not confirmed as secured against the property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
Not automatically property-secured.
- Amount
- Up to R500 000. Published upper figure. No minimum is stated.
- Term
- Up to 84 months. Published maximum only.
- Interest
- From prime, profile dependent
- How funds are paid
- Paid to a participating retailer or against a quote, not as unrestricted cash.
Advantages
- Dedicated renovation materials product
- broad partner network
Limitations
- Payments made to partner retailer, not unrestricted cash
- interest profile dependent
View details
- Fees
- Check initiation/service charges, other charges and full quote
- Security
- Credit product; verify whether unsecured in specific agreement
- Eligibility
- 18+, SA ID, 3 payslips/bank statements, quote from approved retailer
- Role
- Direct consumer credit; retailer-directed
- Product note
- Quote/invoice from participating building retailer; paid directly
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
- Amount
- From R15 000. Published minimum only.
- Term
- Subject to home loan
- Interest
- Personalised
Advantages
- Access previously repaid principal
- no additional bond registration in typical readvance
Limitations
- Only existing bondholders
- property risk and changed pricing
View details
- Fees
- Check bank charges and credit reassessment
- Security
- Residential property mortgage
- Eligibility
- Existing home loan, variable-rate option and new credit assessment
- Role
- Mortgage-backed advance
- Product note
- FNB readvance lending
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
Private banking eligibility applies. The button opens the South African Investec site.
- Amount
- Tailored
- Term
- Tailored
- Interest
- Personalised
Advantages
- Building/renovation financing
- private banker service
Limitations
- Restricted market
- building risk and property security
View details
- Fees
- Legal/bond and construction related costs verify
- Security
- Residential property
- Eligibility
- Eligible private bank applicant; project details/valuation
- Role
- Property-secured private bank finance
- Product note
- Home loan page references renovations and building bonds
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
- Amount
- From R15 000. Published minimum only.
- Term
- Dependent on facility
- Interest
- Personalised
Advantages
- Readvance may avoid legal registration
- additional bond possible
Limitations
- Secured against property
- potential extended interest cost
View details
- Fees
- Further loan requires new deed registration; quote
- Security
- Residential property mortgage
- Eligibility
- Existing mortgage and approval; valuation may be required
- Role
- Mortgage-backed further advance
- Product note
- Readvance and further loan distinguished
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Secured by residential property
Research record, 28 October 2026. Not signed off as a live offer. NCR registration was not independently checked.
- Amount
- Available bond capacity/valuation dependent
- Term
- Quote dependent
- Interest
- Personalised mortgage rate
Advantages
- Readvance option without another bond
- renovation funding
Limitations
- Home securing debt
- more debt and term costs
View details
- Fees
- Bond registration costs for additional bond; no registration for readvance
- Security
- Residential property mortgage
- Eligibility
- Existing Standard Bank home loan; plans/quotes may be needed for works
- Role
- Mortgage-backed advance
- Product note
- Re-advance or additional registered bond
You are leaving WiT Money and visiting the lender's website. Terms, fees and eligibility should be confirmed there. This button is not an approval.
Illustrative renovation borrowing
- Amount borrowed
- R150 000.00
- Estimated instalment
- R3 809.01
- Monthly total with the fee
- R3 809.01
- Interest
- R78 540.85
- Total repaid, including fees
- R228 540.85
This mode is a fixed-term reducing-balance loan. It suits the personal-loan and retailer-paid products. It does not put a new bond on the house, and it is not those lenders' quotation.
The cost depends on the structure
A personal loan usually costs more in interest than a bond rate, and it does not put a new mortgage on the house.
A further bond adds registration costs. A readvance may avoid a new registration and still increases the amount secured by the home.
Absa's further-advance page mentions a time-limited contribution from 22 August 2026 to 31 July 2027. That date range is not treated as a permanent feature.
Do not mix the structures
Paying only the minimum, or stretching a renovation across the remaining life of a bond, is how a kitchen becomes many years of interest.
A builder should be paid against a written contract and progress. The loan does not fix a job that stops.
Consumer protection
A credit provider covered by the National Credit Act must assess affordability and give the pre-agreement disclosure for the agreement it offers. This comparison is not that quotation, and it does not approve a bond, a vehicle or a renovation.
NCR registration was not independently checked for any provider on this page, so no registration number is shown as verified. The contracting legal entity still has to be read off the quotation. That matters where a brand originates an application and another firm is the credit provider, as with Capitec Home Loans and SA Home Loans.
Complaints start with the lender. The National Credit Regulator publishes consumer-credit guidance. Information you enter on a lender's own site is handled by that lender under POPIA. WiT Money does not take an application on these pages.
National Credit Regulator · Information Regulator · Debt review
How WiT Money compared these products
The comparison covers 27 products across vehicle finance, home loans, home-improvement borrowing and property-backed facilities, checked on 28 October 2026. Official product pages were the primary sources. Blank fees were left blank. Personalised rates are labelled personalised.
Toyota Financial Services, BMW Financial Services and a standalone SA Home Loans product were reviewed and are not listed as current products. MFC and WesBank keep their own names and logos rather than being shown as Nedbank or FNB. The default order is the lender's name, then the product. Nothing is sorted as cheapest or best.
No paid placement is active on the buttons. A listed homepage is not an application link invented by WiT Money.
Questions readers ask
Is every home-improvement loan secured?
No. Capitec's retailer-paid loan and Absa's home-improvement personal loan are not labelled as mortgage-backed on this page. Readvances, further bonds and Investec's building bond are.
Can I take the Capitec loan as cash?
The researched terms say the money is paid to a partner retailer against a quote or invoice. It is not described as unrestricted cash.
What is the difference between a readvance and a further bond?
A readvance uses principal already repaid inside the registered bond. A further bond registers additional security and usually has legal costs. The bank decides which one is available.
Will a renovation loan approve itself because I own the house?
No. Existing bondholders still go through a credit assessment, and a valuation may be required. Ownership is not approval.
Sources
Page updated 28 October 2026. A source date is the day WiT Money checked that page, not a promise the institution has not changed it since.
- National Credit Regulator
National Credit Regulator · checked 28 October 2026
- National Credit Act 34 of 2005
South African Government · checked 28 October 2026
- South African Reserve Bank
South African Reserve Bank · checked 28 October 2026
- Budget 2026 tax guide
South African Revenue Service · checked 28 October 2026
Related pages
Vehicle finance
Instalment sales, deposits and balloon payments.
Home loans
Bonds, transfer duty and the costs of buying.
Secured facilities
Property already standing as security.
Personal loans
Unsecured credit, researched separately.