How do I buy a farm in South Africa?

Buying a farm in South Africa involves finding the right property, securing financing (agricultural bonds differ from home loans), conducting due diligence on water rights, land claims, title deeds and zoning, and navigating transfer costs. Africa Estate guides buyers through every step.

What is the average price of a farm in South Africa?

Farm prices in South Africa vary enormously by size, location, water availability and land use. Smallholdings can start from R1.5M while large commercial farms and game reserves can exceed R50M. Africa Estate provides free valuations to give you an accurate market picture.

Does Africa Estate operate countrywide?

Yes. Africa Estate operates across Gauteng, Free State, North West, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, covering a wide range of agricultural and residential property across South Africa.

Worker cost

What does a farm worker cost me?

1. Your workers and their hours

WorkersOn the same hours and wage.

Wage, R an hourLegal minimum: R 30.23 an hour for farm workers from 1 March 2026 (Gazette 54075). More is your choice.

Ordinary hours a weekThe law allows at most 45 (Sectoral Determination 13).

Working days a week

Five until you choose. Sunday is counted apart.

2. Overtime, Sundays and public holidays

Only by agreement with the worker; leave them at 0 when he works none.

Overtime hours a weekPaid at 1.5 times the wage; at most 15 a week, Sunday hours included.

Public holidays worked a yearOf the 12 a year: double the daily wage, a full ordinary day on a day he normally works.

Sundays worked a year

Hours each SundayPaid by the table in Sectoral Determination 13.

Does he live on the farm?

A worker who does not is paid for at least two hours on a Sunday he works.

3. Your costs as employer

COIDA class (Compensation Fund)

The Fund's gazetted tariff, a percentage of the year's pay. Your registration decides the class.

All your staff's pay, next 12 months, ROptional, for SDL: 1% only above R 500 000 a year (SARS). Empty counts these workers only.

UIF is counted by itself: you pay 1% and deduct 1% from the worker, on pay up to R 17 712 a month (SARS).

4. Food and housing deductions

Your choice, at most 10% of the wage each, and only on the conditions of Sectoral Determination 13 clause 8 (free food or a proper house at your cost, nothing else deducted for it). They change what the worker takes home, not what he costs you.

Food, % of the wage

Housing, % of the wage

The answer

A worker at R 30.23 an hour (the legal minimum), 45 ordinary hours a week, cost you R 5 954 a month and R 71 446 a year before COIDA: choose your COIDA class to add it.

Cost a month

R 5 954

before COIDA

Cost a year

R 71 446

He takes home, a month

R 5 836

after his 1% UIF

One worker, a month
Wage, 45 hours a week at R 30.23	R 5 894.85
Pay	R 5 894.85
UIF, your 1%	R 58.95
SDL: not due, payroll R 70 738 a year	R 0.00
COIDA: choose your class	-
Your cost	R 5 953.80

The law and your choice, one worker's pay a month
The legal minimum for these hours, at R 30.23	R 5 894.85
Above the minimum: your choice	R 0.00

The wage is the national minimum wage for farm workers, R30.23 an hour from 1 March 2026: enter what you pay. Choose your COIDA class, or enter the rate on your assessment notice, to add the Compensation Fund.

A month is the hourly wage x hours a week x 52 weeks / 12, the same as the calf cash flow; paid leave and public holidays not worked are inside it. COIDA is the tariff x the year's pay, each worker up to R 668 000, never below the minimum assessment of R 1 621 a year.

Assumptions used

Minimum wage R 30.23 an hour: Government Gazette 54075, 3 February 2026, No. R. 7083: National Minimum Wage Act No. 9 of 2018, Schedule 1 item 2(a), from 2026-03-01. The next is due 1 March 2027.
Hours, overtime (1.5 x), Sundays, public holidays (double the daily wage) and deductions: Sectoral Determination 13: Farm Worker Sector, South Africa (GN R.149, Government Gazette 28518, 17 February 2006), Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997, clauses 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 20.
12 public holidays: Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994, Schedule 1 (section 2), Calendar of public holidays.
UIF 1% + 1%, ceiling R 17 712 a month from 1 June 2021: SARS, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF): How much do you need to pay?, read 2026-11-04.
SDL 1% above R 500 000 a year: SARS, Skills Development Levy (SDL), read 2026-11-04.
COIDA tariffs: Compensation Fund, Regulations on the Compensation Fund's Tariffs of Assessment, GN 1282, Government Gazette 43959, 3 December 2020, Schedule A. Maximum earnings R 668 000 and minimum assessment R 1 621 from 2026-03-01: Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act: Notice 3910 of 2026, Government Gazette 54577, 24 April 2026.
Your choices: the wage above the minimum, the hours, the working days (five until you choose), overtime, Sundays, public holidays worked and the deductions.

Calf cash flow Can this farm pay?Ask Africa Estate Read: What a Farm Costs to Run, and to Get the Crop to Market

The calf cash flow asks for the wage of one worker a month: R 5 894.85 is his pay, R 5 953.80 with your UIF.

How this works and the sources

What one or more farm workers cost you a month and a year: the wage for the ordinary hours (the national minimum wage for farm workers until you enter your own), overtime at one and a half times, Sundays by the table in Sectoral Determination 13 and public holidays worked at double the daily wage, then your share of UIF, the Skills Development Levy when your whole payroll is above SARS's threshold, and the Compensation Fund's assessment at your farming class's gazetted tariff or the rate on your own notice. The legal minimum and your own choice above it are shown apart, with what the worker takes home after his UIF and any food or housing deduction the law allows.

What this does not tell you

This is not labour or payroll advice, and it does not work out PAYE (employees' income tax): your payroll system or accountant does.
The Compensation Fund decides your subclass on your registration; the tariffs here are the farming rows of its 2020 schedule, fully phased in. Enter the rate on your own assessment notice if it differs. The minimum assessment (R1 621 a year) is for the whole farm.
SDL depends on all your employees' pay over the next 12 months, not only these workers: enter that total if you have more staff.
Paid leave (three weeks a year) and public holidays not worked are inside the 52 weeks of wages: they add no extra cost. Sick leave, family responsibility leave, severance and notice pay are not counted.
Workers under 18 (at most 35 hours a week, no housing deduction), a compressed week, night work, extended hours by agreement and time off instead of overtime pay are not worked out here.
Food and housing: the law allows a deduction of at most 10% of the wage for each, only under the conditions of Sectoral Determination 13 clause 8; what the food and the house cost you is not in this sum.
A new national minimum wage applies each March; the Commission invited representations for the 2027 review in August 2026. Nothing you enter is uploaded or kept by us.

Sources

Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.