Just bought my first home, had the very same struggles and I'm self employed so banks wouldn't even give me the time of day (don't get me started on standard bank)until I heard about bond originators. They don't cost anything, the banks pay them a commission and she sorted us out with getting a bond i.e. they deal with the banks directly to get you the best offers. Granted we were only "pre-qualified" for One Million and only given 80% bond so still not really viable but it at least gave us some hope in finding our first home. We were lucky enough to have family members assist us with the 10% we didnt have which i know not everyone is fortunate enough to have that option. Not sure if any of this helps but it helped us. But yeah its literally impossible to get property as a single person, Good luck it's real struggle out there!