If you're selling a house in Australia, your biggest cost is usually your agent's commission, which averages 2.01 per cent of the sale price, including GST, according to internal data. On an $800,000 sale, that's $16,080.

Add conveyancing (the legal work of transferring your home to the buyer) at about $900 to $2,200 and, if you have a mortgage, $129.20 to $248.04 to register its discharge.

That brings you to about $17,100 to $18,500, or about 2.1 to 2.3 per cent of the price. On top of that, budget for marketing, searches, other government fees, any electronic settlement fee (for settling online through a platform such as PEXA) and your lender's own fee.

For marketing, ask your agent for an itemised quote before you sign with them. To estimate the total on your own price, try our selling costs calculator.

What costs do you pay when selling a house?

Your main costs are usually your agent's commission and conveyancing, plus a fee to discharge your mortgage if you have one, and the marketing you agree with your agent. Depending on your sale, your costs can include:

• Your agent's commission
• Conveyancer's fees
• Search costs (checks on the title and council records)
• Marketing fees such as photography and online listings
• Discharge of your mortgage, if you have one
• Council and water rates up to settlement, the day ownership passes to the buyer
• An ATO clearance certificate (free)
• Moving costs

You can sell without an agent, which saves the commission, but you take on the marketing, negotiating and paperwork yourself. Our guide to why you might use a real estate agent weighs that up.

Do you need an ATO clearance certificate?

If you're an Australian resident for tax purposes, you'll generally need a free clearance certificate from the ATO, and co-owners each need their own.

Without one, the buyer must hold back 15 per cent of the price, or of your share if you own it with someone else. You can claim that back only as a credit in your tax return.

The ATO can take up to 28 days to issue one, so apply early.

How are commission rates calculated and how do they work?

No state or territory sets commission by law: you agree it with your agent in writing, and it's negotiable. It can vary from suburb to suburb, as well as between agents within a suburb.

Agents may charge a set percentage of the sale price, a tiered rate or a flat dollar fee. With a set percentage, you multiply your sale price by the rate: on an $800,000 sale, the gap between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent is $4,000.

With a tiered rate, sometimes called a "commission accelerator", you pay a higher rate on the part of the price above an agreed figure. It's meant to give your agent an incentive to get you a higher price.

For example, if you think you can get $830,000 for your home, you could agree on 2 per cent for any price up to $830,000 and 6 per cent on any amount above it. On an $850,000 sale, that's $16,600 plus $1,200, or $17,800.

Consumer Affairs Victoria warns that an agent may read a tiered rate as meaning the higher rate applies to the full price, so ask for the commission in dollars at a few sale prices.

Read: Real estate agent costs, fees and commissions explained

Across Australia, your commission could be as low as 1 per cent or as high as 3.5 per cent, according to internal data, though Tasmania's range runs to 3.76 per cent. These rates include GST, so when you compare, count a quote of 2 per cent plus GST as 2.2 per cent.

Here's how each state and territory compares.

Commission figures are from internal data, 1 January 2025 to 1 October 2026. Conveyancing is from businesses' own published prices, and discharge fees from each state's or territory's land registry (October 2026).

Queensland's conveyancing includes the seller disclosure statement. In South Australia, the Form 1 (the vendor's statement) for a house on its own title costs $810 to $968.25 with searches, and some conveyancers charge it on top.

If you sell at auction, the auctioneer's fee is often already in your agent's quote. Our guide to auctioneer costs has more.

Calculate the average real estate commission in your area

To find the average commission in your area, try our real estate commission calculator.

What do you pay if your home doesn't sell?

Commission is usually payable only when your home sells. But you may still pay for marketing and other costs your agency agreement (your contract with the agent) sets out, so check before you sign.

What to ask before you sign with an agent

• Is the auctioneer's fee included?
• Is marketing itemised, and what will I pay if my home doesn't sell?
• If the rate is tiered, where's the threshold?
• What's the commission in dollars at a few sale prices?
• Does the rate include GST?

How much does it cost to sell a house in each state?

Your state's guide has the full figures, the rules for sellers and a worked example for where you live.

How much does stamp duty cost?

You usually won't pay stamp duty on the home you're selling: the buyer does. But if you're buying your next home, you'll generally pay it on that, and it can cost more than the commission on your sale.

Say you're buying an established $1 million home to live in, and you're not a first home buyer or a foreign buyer. Stamp duty on it runs from about $30,850 in Queensland to $55,000 in Victoria (October 2026).

The Queensland figure includes the state's home concession (a lower duty rate for a home you'll live in), which can apply if you move in within a year of settlement. Other concessions and surcharges can change these figures.

Our guide to who pays stamp duty has the detail.

What does it cost to get your home ready?

If your home needs work before you sell, many jobs cost tens or hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. These costs are mostly optional, to help your home present well. But your state's guide has the rules for sellers, including safety rules such as those on smoke alarms in Queensland, WA and the NT.

• Cleaning and repairs: a vacate clean (the deep clean once you've moved out) of a three-bedroom home costs about $500, and a handyman charges $80 to $165 an hour, often with a call-out fee or a minimum charge. See our guide to pre-sale repair costs.
• Interior and exterior painting
• Small renovations, such as cosmetic bathroom or kitchen upgrades, but be careful not to overcapitalise (spend more than the work adds to your price).

Read more: Which renovations can add value before you sell

Kitchen and bathroom

If you're renovating the kitchen, you can choose less expensive finishes and materials, such as laminate rather than granite bench tops, and less expensive appliances than European ones. Our guide to kitchen renovation costs has more.

If you're planning a complete bathroom renovation, renovators' own websites put the starting price at about $13,500 to $35,000 (October 2026), with a middle price of about $21,000. Thomas Devitt, the Housing Industry Association's senior economist, was quoted in 2023 as saying the average spend rose to about $26,000 in 2022.

Garden

If the garden needs attention, a basic tidy starts at $70 to $90 at most businesses that publish a price, and an overgrown garden from about $150 to $350 or more. A one-off gardener costs $59 to $75 an hour at one national chain (October 2026).

Home staging

Home staging (sometimes called home styling) means a stager furnishes and decorates your home to appeal to likely buyers and make the most of each room. The idea is to help buyers picture themselves living there.

If you're staging a three-bedroom home, starting prices for full staging ran from $2,500 to $5,000 in October 2026, with a middle price of about $3,300. For four bedrooms, they ran up to $5,600. Ask your agent whether staging suits your home and the buyers you're likely to attract.

Moving

If you're moving house, expect to pay removalists about $170 an hour for two movers and a truck on a weekday (October 2026).

Frequently asked questions