The real cost of selling

Cost the sale before it starts, so you know what each item buys and what you’ll keep. Do this now, before an agent quotes you, and you can discuss the fee and the marketing knowing what’s typical, rather than hearing the figures for the first time.

Agent commission

Commission is the big one, and it is entirely negotiable. There are no set rates anywhere in Australia. As a rule, commission runs lower where prices are high and competition between agencies is fierce (inner Sydney and Melbourne) and higher where prices are lower or markets are thin (regional and remote areas). The figures below are typical ranges as at mid-2026; your suburb will have its own going rate, which any agent will tell you if asked directly.

Always confirm whether a quoted rate includes GST. A “2.5 per cent” that turns out to be 2.75 per cent including GST is a $2,125 difference on an $850,000 sale. Get it in writing as a GST-inclusive figure. Some agents offer tiered structures (a base rate plus a higher percentage above an agreed threshold), which can align incentives well if the threshold is set honestly. More on negotiating in Chapter 5, and our commission calculator shows the dollars at your price.

Marketing: $2,000 to $10,000

Marketing is almost always paid by you, on top of commission, and usually upfront or at settlement regardless of whether the property sells. A typical metro campaign:

Portal pricing depends on your suburb’s median price, which is why the same ad costs three times as much in Mosman as in Maryborough. Chapter 7 covers which of these items make the most difference.

Everything else

• Conveyancing or solicitor fees: $800 to $2,500. Covers contract preparation, state disclosure documents, and settlement. Complex sales (deceased estates, subdivisions, disputes) sit at the upper end of that range or above it.
• Styling and staging. A consultation using your own furniture: $200 to $500. Partial staging: $1,500 to $4,000. Full furniture hire for a vacant home: $2,000 to $8,000+ for a four-to-six-week campaign. Chapter 4 covers when it pays.
• Repairs and presentation. Painting, garden tidy, minor trades. Budget $1,000 to $5,000 for a lived-in home; many sellers spend more, not always wisely.
• Lender discharge fees. If you have a mortgage, your lender charges a discharge administration fee, typically $150 to $600, plus a state government fee to register the discharge of mortgage, roughly $100 to $250 depending on the state. If you’re on a fixed rate, ask about break costs before you list; on a large fixed loan these can run to thousands.
• Council and water rate adjustments are settled at settlement and are usually small, but they’re on the statement.

Every state has its own quirks. Our state guides to the cost of selling a house go through them one by one.

Capital gains tax, in plain English

If the property has been your main residence for the whole time you’ve owned it, and you haven’t used it to produce income, you generally pay no CGT at all. That covers most owner-occupier sales. (One quirk: the exemption generally applies from when you move in, so a long gap between buying and occupying can create a partial liability.)

If it’s an investment property, the gain (sale price minus your “cost base”, which includes the purchase price, stamp duty, buying and selling costs, and capital improvements) is added to your taxable income in the year you sign the contract. Two things soften it:

• The 50 per cent discount. Individuals who have held the property for more than 12 months pay tax on only half the gain.
• The six-year rule. If the property was your main residence before you rented it out, you can generally still treat it as your main residence for up to six years of absence, provided you’re not claiming another property as your main residence at the same time.

Two traps. First, CGT is triggered by the contract date, not settlement, which matters if you exchange in late June. Second, if you’ve lived in it part of the time and rented it part of the time, the exemption is apportioned, and the sums get fiddly. For anything beyond a straightforward whole-period main residence, spend a few hundred dollars on an accountant before you list. It is the highest-return professional fee in this entire guide. Our CGT calculator gives you a first estimate.

Worked example: an $850,000 sale

Owner-occupied house in suburban Brisbane, sold by private treaty with a mid-range campaign and partial staging:

That’s about 3.9 per cent of the sale price, with no CGT because it’s a main residence. The same property as an investment held nine years with a $300,000 gross gain could add a tax bill in the tens of thousands depending on the owner’s income, which is why investors should work out the tax before they budget for the marketing.