If you're comparing agents or already holding a quote, yes, you can negotiate their fees. Commission is negotiable in every state and territory, and what sellers pay varies a lot.

According to internal data on 14,042 commissions from 1 January 2025 to 1 October 2026, sellers paid an average of 2.01 per cent, including GST. Rates ran from as low as 1 per cent to as high as 3.5 per cent. 

The rate isn't the only thing on the table. You can also negotiate how the commission is structured, what marketing you pay for, what's included and how long the agreement runs. The best time to do it is before you sign, with a few quotes in hand.

What's a normal commission, and how much room is there?

Across those commissions, the average was about 2 per cent, but what's normal for you depends on where you sell. Capital-city averages run from 1.63 per cent in Sydney to 2.42 per cent in Brisbane, and rates vary widely within each city.

Every rate on this page includes GST. The "as low as" and "as high as" figures leave out the lowest and highest 1 per cent of rates.

The dearer your home, the lower the rate tends to be. In Sydney, the average was 2.03 per cent on homes that sold for up to $500,000 and 1.43 per cent on homes over $3 million.

The spread can be wide within a single area, too. Across 281 commissions in Western Sydney, rates ran from as low as 0.99 per cent to as high as 3.02 per cent.

On an $800,000 sale, the gap between 1 per cent and 3.5 per cent is $20,000. For averages in your state and city, see our guide to real estate agent fees.

What can you negotiate?

Most of what's in the agency agreement, the contract you sign with the agent. Consumer guidance in NSW, Victoria, WA, South Australia, the ACT and the NT says you can negotiate commission and other fees. In Queensland, the approved agreement form says the commission is negotiable.

In Victoria, the agent must tell you commission is negotiable before you sign. In Tasmania, the law leaves the amount to you and the agent, and the written agreement must say how it's worked out.

The rate. Ask each agent for their rate as a percentage and in dollars at the price you expect, so you can compare quotes directly.

The structure. Commission can be a percentage, a fixed dollar fee or a mix of both. Some agents offer a lower rate with a bonus if your home sells above an agreed price, or a higher rate on the part of the price above an agreed figure. Our guides to fixed-fee real estate and tiered commission rates explain both.

If the rate changes with the price, ask for what you'd pay at several prices, in writing. NSW Fair Trading warns that this kind of commission can cost significantly more than a flat rate on the final price.

Consumer Affairs Victoria adds that, if the wording isn't clear, a higher rate might be applied to the whole price, not just the part above the agreed figure.

Marketing. This is usually paid on top of commission, and it's negotiable too. Unless you agree "no sale, no fee", you'll usually pay for it even if your home doesn't sell, so ask for every item and its cost in writing. Our guide to how much to spend on marketing can help you set a budget.

What's included. Ask what the commission covers and what you'll be charged for separately, such as photography or advertising. Our guide to what's included in agent fees lists the usual services.

How long the agreement runs. You can ask for a shorter term, and some states set limits. In Queensland, a sole or exclusive agreement to sell a home has no effect if it runs longer than 90 days. In Tasmania, an agency agreement can't run past 120 days.

South Australia limits the term to 90 days. If the agent sends you a notice of expiry and you don't reply before the term ends, the agreement is extended once, for 180 days. You can then end it by written notice.

In NSW and the ACT, if an agreement runs longer than 90 days, it must let you end it after the first 90 days by giving 30 days' written notice, without penalty. Our guide to structuring an agent agreement covers the rules in each state.

What you owe after it ends. An agreement can say you'll still owe commission for a period after it ends, if you sell to a buyer the agent introduced. Ask how long that period is.

In Tasmania, the law lets an agent claim commission if you sell within 90 days after the agreement ends, to a buyer they introduced or showed the home to. That contact must also have been the effective cause of the sale. It doesn't apply if you sell under a new agent's agreement.

Our guide to when an agent is entitled to commission explains more.

How to negotiate your agent's commission

If you're worried that asking will get things off on the wrong foot, keep it about the quote, not the agent. A question like "Can you do better on this?" lands better than "You're overpaid".

1. Get quotes from at least three agents. NSW Fair Trading suggests talking to at least three, and Queensland's Office of Fair Trading two or three. Our questions to ask when interviewing agents will help you compare them.
2. Compare like for like. Put each quote in dollars at the same expected price, including GST, so you can compare them with each other. To compare a rate with the table, make sure it includes GST too. Then line up the marketing costs, what's included and the agreement's term.
3. Ask, and say why. Tell each agent you're comparing quotes, and ask whether they can do better on the rate, the marketing or the term.
4. Trade rather than just cut. If an agent won't move on the rate, they may agree to include photography, shorten the term or take a bonus-based structure instead.
5. Get it in writing before you sign. In most states, the agreement must by law set out the commission and the marketing costs, so read both closely.

If you have second thoughts after signing, in NSW you can usually change your mind during a cooling-off period, which runs until 5pm on the next business day or Saturday, whichever comes first. There's no cooling-off period if you signed a waiver form before the agreement.

For that waiver to count, the agent must have given you the proposed agreement and NSW Fair Trading's guide at least one business day before you signed the agreement.

If an agent approached you uninvited, at your door or by phone, and that led to the agreement, national rules on unsolicited sales may give you 10 business days to cancel, wherever you live. The ACCC explains those rules.

The ACT Government's guide for buyers and sellers suggests an agreement of no more than 60 days that doesn't roll on automatically when the term ends.

When you ask, here are a few lines you could use:

• "I'm talking to three agents. Can you show me your commission in dollars at my expected price, including GST?"
• "Another agent has quoted a lower rate with photography included. Can you match that, or tell me what I'd get for the difference?"
• "Would you take a lower rate with a bonus if we sell above the price we agree?"
• "I'd like a 60-day agreement that doesn't extend automatically."

What can a lower rate cost you?

It's a fair worry that a cheaper agent will get you a lower price, but we're not aware of any Australian research that shows it.

The studies we know of are from overseas, in other markets and with other types of agent. Where they found a cost, it showed up less in price than in the chance of selling and, in the US study, in how long a sale took.

In the Netherlands, a 2023 study looked at low-fee online agents, who left the viewings to the sellers. Their sellers got higher prices and sold faster, but were more likely to switch agents or not sell. The researchers said the results were consistent with more capable sellers choosing those agents.

In the US, a 2008 study found homes listed with flat-fee agents sold for similar prices but took longer. In two of the three markets it studied, they were also less likely to sell while the study ran.

So the rate is only part of what you're choosing. On an $800,000 sale, a commission half a percentage point lower saves you $4,000. A sale price half a per cent lower would cost you about the same, before commission.

It's worth asking each agent how they'd sell your home, and checking their recent sales near you, before you choose on price alone. Our guide to low commission real estate sets out the pros and cons.

Where these figures come from

The commission rates, which include GST, are from OpenAgent's internal data on 14,042 commissions from 1 January 2025 to 1 October 2026. Area figures are shown only where there were at least 30 commissions.

The rules on agreements, marketing and GST are from NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland's Office of Fair Trading and its approved agreement form, WA's Consumer Protection, the SA Government, Access Canberra's guide for buyers and sellers (third edition), the NT Government and each state's agency laws, as they stood in October 2026.

The overseas evidence is from Gautier, Siegmann and van Vuuren (Journal of Empirical Finance, 2023) and Levitt and Syverson (Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 2008). The GST rate is from the ATO.

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