Most of the fixed fees conveyancers and property lawyers published for selling a home were between about $900 and $2,200 in October 2026, including GST. That's for their work only.

Searches and certificates, the electronic settlement fee and government charges come on top. They can add several hundred dollars to your bill, or more than $1,000 if you have a mortgage to pay off, as our NSW example below shows.

What you'll pay depends on your state, the firm and your sale. These fees come from 18 Australian conveyancing businesses' own price pages, read in October 2026, so you can check any quote you're given against them.

Conveyancing is the legal work of transferring your property to the buyer when you're selling a property.

How much does conveyancing cost in each state?

Across the states, published fixed fees for a home sale ranged from $880 in Victoria to $2,750 in NSW in October 2026, and most of them fell between about $900 and $2,200. The middle price was about $1,925 in NSW, $990 in Victoria and $1,650 in Queensland.

These are fixed professional fees for a standard residential sale or purchase, before searches and government fees. They include GST, except for one firm's $1,540 price (NSW and ACT) and one WA firm's prices, which don't say either way. Some businesses price more than one state, so the counts add up to more than 18.

In Queensland, and at some Victorian firms, the selling figures also include preparing the seller's disclosure document (what the buyer generally has to receive before signing). Where a Queensland firm charges for it separately, we've added its lowest price.

Since 1 August 2025, most Queensland sellers have had to give the buyer a disclosure statement, called Form 2, before the buyer signs the contract (at auction, to registered bidders before the auction starts). Firms that charge separately for preparing it asked $295 to $799, and Queensland fees for the conveyancing alone were $619 to $1,500.

Selling figures for WA, SA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT come from one to three businesses each, so treat them as a rough guide. In WA, several settlement agents publish starting prices only, from $770 to $990.

What does a conveyancer do for the fee?

When you sell, your conveyancer prepares the legal documents the buyer generally has to receive before signing, such as the contract in NSW, the section 32 vendor's statement in Victoria or the Form 2 in Queensland. They then handle the settlement (the day ownership passes to the buyer) and the paperwork to pay off your mortgage.

What do you pay on top of the conveyancer's fee?

On top of the fee, you'll usually pay for searches and certificates (the official documents about your property that go into the contract) and the electronic settlement fee. If you have a mortgage, you'll also pay to discharge it, the formal step that removes your lender's mortgage from the title.

• Searches and certificates: one NSW firm puts a typical Sydney house's contract searches at about $500, and another itemised $555.64 for a vacant block. Victorian firms that publish an estimate put what they pay out on your behalf at about $200 to $800 (more for a unit), and some of those estimates include the PEXA fee. Queensland disclosure searches were about $126 to $400.
• Electronic settlement: in most states, sales now settle through an online platform such as PEXA. PEXA charges $146.30 to $150.39, depending on the state, to transfer one property's title (October 2026 prices, GST included), and several firms list it as a cost to sellers.
• Paying off your mortgage: your lender's discharge fee (Westpac's was $350 on most of its home loans in October 2026), plus the titles office's fee to register the discharge. That fee is $182.73 in NSW and $225.10 in WA for 2026-27. In Victoria it was $129.20 (lodged electronically) in October 2026.
• ID and money-laundering checks: since 1 July 2026, conveyancers and lawyers handling property sales have had to check who their clients are under anti-money-laundering laws. Some now list a fee for it. One firm's sale quote, for example, shows $99.

Example: what a NSW seller's bill could add up to

Say you sell a house in NSW with a Westpac mortgage, and your conveyancer charges $1,925 (the middle of the published NSW fees). The searches and certificates for the contract cost about $500, PEXA charges $146.30, registering the discharge costs $182.73, and Westpac's discharge fee is $350.

That comes to about $3,100, or about $1,180 more than the fee. It's an example only, and leaves out ID checks, smaller fees, extra work and break costs (what a lender can charge if you pay off a fixed-rate loan early).

Your conveyancer's quote should list the searches, settlement and registration fees, and your lender sets its own discharge fee.

Each owner who's an Australian resident for tax purposes also generally needs a clearance certificate from the ATO, which is free. Without one, the buyer generally holds back 15 per cent of that owner's share of the sale price. The ATO says to apply as soon as you're thinking of selling, and at least 28 days before settlement.

How do you compare conveyancing quotes?

Ask two or three conveyancers for a written quote, then compare them line by line. That's where the extras show up: in the NSW example above, they added about $1,180 to the fee.

Check each quote for:

• the professional fee, and whether GST is included
• whether preparing the contract or disclosure documents is included
• the searches and certificates, itemised
• the electronic settlement fee
• the mortgage discharge costs
• ID and money-laundering check fees
• what counts as extra work, and what it costs

The Australian Institute of Conveyancers' SA division suggests asking questions like these:

• What's the maximum I can expect to pay in fees and charges?
• What government fees and charges will I need to pay?
• How long will settlement take?
• How will you keep me up to date with what's happening?

It's worth lining up a conveyancer before your home goes on the market. In Queensland and Victoria, for example, the buyer generally has to receive your disclosure documents before signing the contract, so your conveyancer needs time to prepare them. There's more on choosing a conveyancer early.

Does selling cost more than buying?

Usually not. Across the 22 state price lists from businesses that publish both, 13 charged sellers and buyers the same fee.

You'll pay more as a seller where preparing the disclosure document is charged on top. With that counted, 5 of the 22 charged sellers more (all but one in Queensland) and 4 charged them less.

Is the fee fixed, or can it go up?

For a standard sale, the businesses that publish a full price, rather than a starting price, charge a fixed fee, though some cap the hours it covers. Some also charge more for dearer homes: one Victorian firm charged $880 below $750,000, $1,100 from $750,000 to just under $1.5 million, and $2,200 from $1.5 million, including GST.

Expect to pay more for extra work, such as a paper settlement ($330 to $450 at the firms that list it). One SA firm also charges $175 plus GST for each mortgage discharge it handles. Off-the-plan and commercial sales are usually quoted separately.

Is a conveyancer cheaper than a solicitor?

Not necessarily. Both the lowest and the highest published fees for a sale came from law firms: $619 in Queensland (before the disclosure statement) and $2,750 in NSW. Every law firm in our survey with a published price for a standard sale quotes a fixed fee, not an hourly rate.

A solicitor can do things a conveyancer can't. In NSW, for example, licensed conveyancers can't run court cases, prepare wills, or set up or change trusts. If your sale is tied up with a family law settlement, a deceased estate or a dispute, it's worth asking whether you need a solicitor.

For the other differences, see our guide to choosing a solicitor or a conveyancer when selling.

Do you need a conveyancer to sell your home?

In NSW and Victoria, in practice, yes. Sales there settle electronically, and the platforms are open only to subscribers, who are mainly lawyers, conveyancers and banks. The rules set a minimum of $1.5 million of insurance per claim, which the ACT Government says would be unreasonable to expect of individuals.

Elsewhere, the titles office generally still accepts paper documents from people acting for themselves.

• NSW: Legal Aid NSW says a dealing (a document that changes the title, such as a transfer) can only be lodged by a lawyer or licensed conveyancer who subscribes to an electronic platform.
• Victoria: a sale transfer must be lodged by a lawyer or conveyancer.
• WA: transfers are generally lodged electronically, but Landgate (WA's titles office) accepts a paper transfer, with a request form, where a party isn't represented by a professional.
• Queensland, SA, Tasmania and the ACT: the titles office still accepts paper documents from people acting for themselves.
• NT: sale transfers aren't electronic yet, so they're still lodged on paper.

If you're thinking of doing your own conveyancing, the Australian Institute of Conveyancers' SA division warns that a mistake can delay settlement, leave you paying default interest (extra interest for settling late) or even let the buyer end the contract.

Selling without an agent is a separate choice, and our guide to selling your home yourself covers it.

Where these prices come from

We read the price pages of conveyancers, settlement agents and law firms in October 2026, and took prices only from each business's own website. The table counts fixed fees for a standard residential sale or purchase from 18 businesses (17 of them with a selling price), leaving out "from" prices, all-inclusive prices, discounts and pages more than three years old.

Of the 23 state selling prices counted, 19 fell between $900 and $2,200. Where a firm charges more for dearer homes, we counted its lowest band.

In Queensland and Victoria, we added the lowest published price for the seller's disclosure document where a firm charges it separately. One NSW price comes from a quote for vacant land. Government fees come from the titles offices' published fees and PEXA's price page, read in October 2026.

For the rest of what selling costs, see the cost of selling a house, or the guide for your state: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania, the ACT or the NT.

Conveyancing FAQs