A private treaty sale is when your home is advertised for sale, buyers make offers, and you negotiate a price with them, usually through your agent, instead of going to auction. You can accept, reject or counter any offer, and nothing binds either of you until a written contract is signed (or exchanged, in NSW and the NT).

Private treaty is also called a private sale, though that phrase can also mean selling without an agent.

If you'd assumed auction was the usual way to sell, nationally it isn't. The Queensland Government calls private treaty the most common method, and Cotality put auctions at just over 30 per cent of new listings nationally in June 2026.

The rules for advertising the price, handling offers and the buyer's cooling-off period (their chance to pull out after signing) differ by state, and they're set out below. Before you sign with an agent, ask how they'd price your home and handle offers.

What does "sold by private treaty" mean?

"Sold by private treaty" means the home sold through a negotiated offer and a signed contract, not to the highest bidder at an auction. That includes a home that was headed for auction but sold before the day, or sold after it was passed in (when bidding stopped short of a price the seller would accept).

Which label a sale gets depends on who's counting. Consumer Affairs Victoria treats pre-auction offers as private sales, but Cotality's auction results count a home sold before or after its auction as a successful auction.

How does a private treaty sale work?

A private treaty sale usually runs in eight steps, from signing with an agent to settlement.

1. Sign an agency agreement. Your agent's written agreement sets out their fee, the marketing and, in most states, their estimate of the selling price. Our guide to structuring an agent agreement explains the options.
2. Get the paperwork ready. Depending on your state, the contract or disclosure documents must be ready before the home is advertised or before a buyer signs. Ask your conveyancer or lawyer what your state needs.
3. Advertise the home. Your agent markets it and runs inspections, often with a price or price range in the ads. Most states set rules on how low an advertised price can be.
4. Buyers make offers. In NSW, Victoria and Queensland, an offer can be verbal, but in SA it must be in writing and signed. Either way, only the written contract binds anyone, and only once it's signed or exchanged.
5. Negotiate. You can accept, reject or counter any offer, and you don't have to take the highest. Buyers often attach conditions, such as finance approval or a building and pest inspection.
6. Sign the contract and take a deposit. In most states, the contract binds once you've both signed it. In NSW and the NT, it binds when contracts are exchanged, meaning each of you gets a copy signed by the other. Our guide to understanding property contracts explains what's in one.
7. The cooling-off period runs. In most states, the buyer then has a few business days to pull out, usually for a small payment to you. WA and Tasmania have no cooling-off period by law.
8. Conditions are met and the sale settles. Settlement is when the buyer pays the balance and ownership passes to them, on a date the contract sets. In Victoria, settlement is usually 30 to 90 days after the sale, says Consumer Affairs Victoria. In NSW, it's about six weeks after exchange, says the NSW Government.

Our guides to choosing a settlement date and selling your property cover the rest of the sale.

How is the price advertised?

You and your agent decide how to show the price, as a single figure or a range. In Queensland and NSW (for now), the law lets you choose to show no price. Most states have rules against underquoting, which means advertising a price below what the home is likely to sell for.

• NSW: no advertised price below your agent's estimate, no "offers over" or "+" signs, and no range wider than 10 per cent. NSW Fair Trading says changes expected towards the end of 2026 will require a price or price range in agents' ads, with limited exemptions such as for-sale signs.
• Victoria: your agent must prepare a Property Price Statement, which replaced the Statement of Information. The price it shows buyers can't be lower than your agent's estimate, a written offer you rejected as too low, or the price you've said you'd accept, and a range can't be wider than 10 per cent.
• Queensland: there's no set floor for the advertised price, but your agent can't make a false or misleading statement about the home's value. If you choose no price, they can't give buyers a price guide.
• South Australia: no lower than your agent's estimate or your own price in the agency agreement, whichever is higher. The top of a range can't be more than 10 per cent above the bottom.
• WA: WA Consumer Protection says it's illegal for an agent to advertise, or tell a buyer, a price below your asking price or their estimate.
• Tasmania: your agent can't open the campaign with a price below one they know you'd accept.
• ACT and NT: in the ACT, agents can't make dishonest statements about their price estimate. In the NT, they can't make misleading statements in ads.

How are offers handled?

In NSW, Victoria, SA, WA and the ACT, your agent must pass every offer on to you. In NSW, Victoria and the ACT, you can tell them in writing not to. Either way, no offer binds you until a contract is signed or exchanged.

In Tasmania, your agent must tell you an offer has been made and by whom, but can decide not to present it. In the NT, the government lists passing on offers among your agent's usual duties. Queensland law has no specific rule, so it's worth agreeing with your agent how they'll handle offers.

Until the contract binds, you can keep taking offers, and a buyer who thought they had a deal can be outbid. This is called gazumping. NSW Fair Trading says the agent must keep passing on offers until contracts are exchanged.

Buyers don't usually know what others have offered. In SA, the agent can tell a buyer that another offer exists, but not its amount or terms.

If you have several offers, the Victorian and SA governments say you can accept any of them without giving the others a chance to improve. In Tasmania, the agents' code of conduct says your agent should give buyers who offered earlier a chance to improve their offer, unless you tell them not to. Our guide to managing multiple offers has more.

When does the sale bind, and can the buyer pull out?

This is where your state's rules differ most: the paperwork a buyer must get, when the contract binds, and the buyer's cooling-off period. These are the main rules as at 21 October 2026. Each has exceptions, so ask your conveyancer or lawyer which apply to your sale.

Before and at signing

Cooling-off periods

A cooling-off period lets a buyer pull out within a set time after signing. It's the buyer's alone: sellers don't get one in any state. Some buyers offer to waive it to make their offer stronger, and the last column shows whether they can.

Most sales agreed straight after a pass-in have no cooling-off. In NSW, that's a sale on the same day. In SA and the ACT, it's a sale on the same day to someone who bid, and in Queensland, a sale to a registered bidder until 5pm on the second clear business day.

In Victoria, there's no cooling-off if the home sells on the day of a publicly advertised auction, or within 3 clear business days before or after it.

How is private treaty different from auction, tender and expressions of interest?

The difference is how and when the price is agreed. In a private treaty sale, there's usually no fixed deadline: you negotiate with buyers as offers come in, and you can accept one at any time until a contract binds.

• Auction: buyers bid in public on a set day, and the highest bid at or above your reserve price (the minimum you set) buys the home. The contract is signed on the day, usually with no conditions and no cooling-off period. See how a property auction works.
• Tender: buyers submit offers by a closing date, and you choose one or reject them all, says the Queensland Government. Whether an offer binds the buyer depends on the tender documents. There's no cooling-off on a tender sale in the ACT, and in SA it depends on when the contract is made.
• Expressions of interest: buyers are invited to make offers by a closing date, and the agent then negotiates. In Victoria, a campaign with a set date and time for offers can count as a fixed-date sale. If it does, your reserve must be published in the ads at least 7 days before the closing date.

Our guide to auction vs private sale sets out which homes and markets suit each, and what each costs.

What does a private treaty sale cost?

There's no auctioneer to pay, but the main costs are the same as for any sale: your agent's commission, the advertising you agree to, and a conveyancer or lawyer. Commission is negotiated with your agent, and our guide to conveyancer costs covers the legal side.

What should you ask your agent?

Before you agree to a private treaty sale, ask:

• How will you advertise the price, and why that figure or range?
• How will you tell me about offers, and will you pass on every one?
• Would you set a closing date for offers, and why? In Victoria, a closing date can mean publishing your reserve at least 7 days before it.
• What conditions do you expect buyers to ask for, and how would you handle a conditional offer?
• What deposit will you ask for, and when is it due?
• How long have homes like mine taken to sell this way in my suburb?

Asking two or three agents the same questions shows you whose plan fits your home.

Frequently asked questions

Where these rules come from

• State rules: each state's and territory's legislation, regulations, approved contract or consumer regulator, plus Landgate (WA strata) and a Hobart Community Legal Service guide (Tasmania), read between 16 and 21 October 2026.
• NSW, Victoria and Queensland: the Conveyancing Act 1919, Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 and its 2022 Regulation (NSW), the Sale of Land Act 1962, Estate Agents Act 1980 and Professional Conduct Regulations 2018 (Victoria), and the Property Occupations Act 2014 and Property Law Act 2023 (Queensland).
• The other states and territories: SA's Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994, WA's real estate agents' Code of Conduct, Tasmania's Property Agents Board Code of Conduct, the NT's Agents Licensing Act 1979 and approved contract of sale, and the ACT's Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003, Agents Act 2003 and Agents Regulation 2003.
• How common auction is: Cotality's Monthly Housing Chart Pack (July 2026, covering June), which counts the share of new listings taken to auction, and its auction results method.