You can sell your own home without an agent anywhere in Australia. The gain is the commission you don't pay, less the cost of a package that lists your home on realestate.com.au. When we checked seven providers in October 2026, starting prices were $549 to $979.

The costs are your time, the paperwork, and the risk of selling for less than an agent might have got.

Whether it suits you depends on how much commission you'd save after costs, how much time you can give it, and how confident you are pricing and negotiating. If you've already decided, our guide on how to sell your house privately takes you through the steps.

How much would you save by selling your home yourself?

You'd save the agent's commission, less what you pay to sell without one. For example, on an $800,000 home at a 2 per cent commission, that's about $14,850 once you've paid for a listing package and photos.

The catch is where you can advertise. For an established home, realestate.com.au takes sale listings only from licensed agents. Domain has closed its private sale ads, but it says you can still list privately on Allhomes.

So to reach realestate.com.au, you'd buy a listing package from a licensed agency, which lists your home for a flat fee while you handle the enquiries, inspections and negotiating yourself.

When we checked seven of these providers' own price pages on 16 October 2026, their cheapest packages with a realestate.com.au listing cost between $549 and $979. Some were shown as discounts on a higher price, and not all said whether GST was included.

If a package didn't include them, professional photos cost from about $300 to $370 extra, and a photo signboard $250 to $360.

Here's how the saving works out on an $800,000 home, assuming it sells either way. The commission rates are examples only, include GST and apply to the whole price. For selling costs, we've allowed about $800 for a listing package and about $350 for photos.

That last row is your break-even: how much lower a price you could accept and be no worse off. At a 2 per cent commission, that's about 1.9 per cent. A private sale at about $785,150 would leave you just as well off as an agent's sale at $800,000.

The example leaves out the conveyancer's fee, because you'd usually pay one whichever way you sell. A conveyancer prepares the contract and handles settlement (the day ownership passes to the buyer). It also leaves out any marketing costs an agent might charge, and your own time.

For the other costs you might pay when you sell, with or without an agent, see our guide to the cost of selling a house.

With an agent, you may also pay marketing costs on top of the commission, so compare an agent's whole quote, as our guide to advertising and marketing costs explains. Agents often quote commission with GST shown separately. Check whether a rate includes it before you compare.

To see what agents in your suburb charge, try our commissions calculator.

The pros of selling your home yourself

• You keep the commission, less a listing package and photos, as the table above shows.
• You decide everything. You set the price, choose the photos and write the ad, and you decide when buyers can inspect.
• You aren't tied to an agent. There's no agent with the right to a commission if you sell.

The cons of selling your home yourself

• It takes time. You handle every enquiry, show buyers through and follow them up, often at short notice and on weekdays as well as weekends.
• You often pay upfront, sold or not. The listing package and photos are often paid before you have a buyer, and some packages run for a set number of months rather than until the home sells. Some providers let you pay later, so check the fees, and when payment is due if the home doesn't sell.
• The paperwork and deadlines are yours. In NSW, Victoria and the ACT, some documents must be ready when you advertise or offer the home, and missing them is an offence (see the law section below).
• You negotiate face to face. There's no one between you and the buyer, which some sellers find hard when an offer comes in low.
• Pricing is harder to judge alone. An agent sees many sales and may already know buyers looking in your area. Without one, you rely on your own research.

Would you get a lower price without an agent?

We couldn't find an Australian study comparing the prices of homes sold with and without an agent. The US studies point both ways.

In its 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which represents agents, reported a median of US360,000forhomessoldbytheirowners.Foragent-assistedsales,themedianwasUS425,000. Those are simple medians that don't allow for differences between the homes.

NAR also says a common reason owners sell without an agent is that they're selling to a friend or relative, so the two groups don't compare like with like.

A peer-reviewed study of Madison, Wisconsin, was published in the American Economic Review in 2009. It found homes sold by their owners fetched prices no lower than agent-sold homes, before the agent's commission came out. But they took longer to sell and were less likely to sell at all.

Set that against your break-even from the table above. At a 2 per cent commission, a price about 1.9 per cent lower would wipe out the saving.

What you can control is the price you ask and how you negotiate. The NSW Government's steps for private sellers include having the property valued, then setting a realistic price based on the valuation and current market trends.

It helps to look at what similar homes nearby have sold for recently. Our guide to what your property is worth compares the ways to find out.

What does the law ask of a private seller?

The paperwork an agent would have arranged becomes your responsibility. What the buyer must be given, and when, differs in each state, and so does the cooling-off period, the few days after signing when a buyer can still pull out.

These rules come from state legislation and government guidance, as we read them on 16 October 2026. The cooling-off periods are the usual ones for a private sale of an existing home. Waivers, particular buyers and off-the-plan sales can change them, and the seller never gets one.

The buyer doesn't get one when a home sells at auction, and in most states not for a sale to a bidder soon after the home is passed in (fails to sell at the auction). In Victoria, there's also none for a sale within three clear business days before or after a publicly advertised auction.

Before you advertise. In NSW, the contract and documents must be ready before you advertise. In the ACT, the required documents must be available from the time you offer the home for sale, and so must Victoria's due diligence checklist. In all three, that's the seller's duty, not only an agent's.

What if the paperwork is wrong or missing? The buyer may be able to get out of the contract.

In Queensland, a buyer who didn't get the required documents before signing can usually end the contract any time up to settlement. In Victoria, if the section 32 statement was missing or wrong, a buyer can usually cancel the contract (rescind it) any time before they accept title and become entitled to possession.

Thinking of an auction? In South Australia, only a registered auctioneer can sell your home at auction, the SA Government says. Elsewhere, check with your state's fair trading or consumer affairs office.

Do you have to tell buyers about defects?

There's no general rule across Australia that a seller must list a home's defects. Tasmania's regulator says its property law doesn't require it, and Queensland's disclosure statement doesn't cover whether the building is structurally sound.

What you do have to do is give the buyer the documents your state requires, and not mislead them. South Australia's government says it's illegal to misrepresent a property for sale. If you know of a serious defect, ask your conveyancer or solicitor whether you need to tell buyers about it.

Do you need a solicitor or conveyancer?

In practice, yes. In NSW, settlements are electronic, and both sides need a solicitor or conveyancer who uses the system. In Victoria, you'll need one to prepare the section 32 statement and the contract, Consumer Affairs Victoria says.

They'll also deal with the buyer's deposit. In Victoria, a deposit paid to you must go to a conveyancer, lawyer or agent, or into a joint account in both names, within seven days.

Our guide to conveyancing costs explains what they charge, and our guide to choosing a solicitor or a conveyancer compares the two.

What are the options between an agent and no agent?

The options include negotiating the commission, a sole agency that lets you find your own buyer (in some states), and an open listing.

• Negotiate the commission. In Victoria, agents must tell you it's negotiable. It can be a percentage, a fixed fee or both, Consumer Affairs Victoria says. Our guide shows how to negotiate agent fees.
• Sole agency. You sign with one agent, but in NSW, Queensland and the ACT you pay no commission if you, not the agent, bring about the sale. In South Australia, "sole agency" means you pay even then, so read the commission clause, not the label.
• Open listing. You sign with several agents, pay only the one who sells, and can still sell your home yourself. Our guide to open listings and exclusive listings explains each state's rules.

If you'd like to compare agents, OpenAgent is free for sellers. When a home sells, the agent who sold it pays us a referral fee, and some agents pay us to appear as a premium or sponsored agent, as our About page explains.

Is selling it yourself right for you?

It could suit you if you can answer yes to most of these:

• Can you take calls and show buyers through at short notice, including on weekdays?
• Are you comfortable negotiating with buyers face to face, and turning down a low offer?
• Do you know what similar homes nearby have sold for recently?
• Can you pay for a listing package and photos, whether or not the home sells?
• Have you checked which documents your state requires, and when, and lined up a conveyancer?
• Is your timeline flexible if it takes longer to sell?

If you're unsure, it can help to set yourself a deadline. Before you buy a package, check how long it runs and whether you can end it early.

If the home hasn't sold by your deadline, you could look again at the in-between options above. Our guide on how to sell your property covers each step with an agent.

Sources

The state rules on this page come from these laws and government guides, checked on 16 October 2026:

• NSW: the Conveyancing Act 1919 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022, and NSW Government guidance on selling a property
• Victoria: the Sale of Land Act 1962, and Consumer Affairs Victoria
• Queensland: the Property Law Act 2023 and the Property Occupations Act 2014, and the Office of Fair Trading
• South Australia: the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994, and the SA Government's guide to selling your home
• Western Australia: Consumer Protection's guide to selling property
• Tasmania: the Property Agents and Land Transactions Act 2016, and Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading
• ACT: the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003, and Access Canberra
• Northern Territory: the NT Government's guidance and its standard contract of sale

The price evidence: the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (4 November 2025), and Hendel, Nevo and Ortalo-Magné, The Relative Performance of Real Estate Marketing Platforms: MLS versus FSBOMadison.com, American Economic Review (2009). Listing packages: seven providers' own price pages, checked 16 October 2026.

This is general information, not legal advice. A conveyancer, a solicitor or your state's fair trading or consumer affairs office can tell you what applies to your sale.