What does it cost to sell a house in Australia?

Agents call it VPA, or vendor-paid advertising. It covers the portal listings, photography, floor plans, signboard, brochures and whatever else goes into the campaign, and it typically runs $2,000 to $10,000, with Melbourne and Sydney campaigns sitting at the top of that range.

And you pay it whether or not your house sells.

That’s the part that stings. Commission is contingent: no sale, no commission. VPA usually isn’t. If your campaign runs its four weeks and doesn’t produce a buyer, the invoice still lands, and you either relist and pay again or wear it.

Some agencies bundle marketing into the commission, some offer pay-on-settlement terms, and some quote a low commission specifically because the marketing package is where they’ve made their margin. Ask for the VPA number in writing, itemised, before you sign anything. If an agent is vague about it, that’s information.

For comparison, PropertyNow lists your property on the major portals for one flat fee, with licensed agent support seven days a week. The current figure is on our pricing page, and it’s the fee, not a deposit against a bigger one.

List privately and this whole bill largely disappears. There’s no four-week paid campaign to fund, so you can skip most of it or cut it right down. We’d still plan for two things, though: professional photography, because it’s the first thing every buyer sees, and a signboard out front, because your own street is one of the best advertising spots you’ve got. Together that’s usually a few hundred dollars rather than several thousand.

One more option if the timing’s tight. Buy-now-pay-later services built for property, like Zip Pay and Property.Credit, can spread the cost of your listing fee and any campaign extras, with the balance settled from your sale proceeds. Deferring a cost is never completely free, so use it for money you were going to spend anyway, and approval, terms and conditions apply. But it can take the upfront pressure off the parts of a campaign that genuinely earn their keep.

Stamp duty is your buyer’s cost, not yours. Transfer duty is paid by the buyer in every Australian state and territory. You don’t get back the stamp duty you paid when you bought, either. That money went to the state revenue office years ago and it isn’t refunded on sale. We’ve answered this one in more detail in our post on the main costs of selling and whether stamp duty applies.

Capital gains tax. If the property has been your home for the whole time you’ve owned it and you haven’t used it to earn income, the main residence exemption generally means there’s no CGT to pay. If it’s an investment property, a second home, or a former home you rented out, CGT is in play on the gain. Two things soften it: holding the asset for more than 12 months generally gives you a 50% discount on the gain, and the ATO’s six-year rule lets you keep treating a former home as your main residence for up to six years while it’s rented out. The ATO’s guidance on treating a former home as your main residence sets out the conditions. CGT is worked out on your tax return, not at settlement, so it won’t come off your proceeds on the day. It turns up months later, so put money aside for it when the sale settles, and talk to a registered tax agent before you sign a contract if there’s any chance it applies to you.

The ATO clearance certificate. Yes, you need one. Since 1 January 2025, Australian residents selling property need an ATO clearance certificate, no matter what the property is worth. The old $750,000 threshold is gone. If you can’t give your buyer a valid certificate before settlement, the buyer is legally required to withhold 15% of the purchase price and send it to the ATO. On a $900,000 sale that’s $135,000 held back from your proceeds. You get it back, but not until you lodge your tax return and the ATO works through it, which could be the better part of a year away. If you’re relying on those funds to settle your next purchase, that’s a serious problem. (If you’re a foreign resident for tax purposes, different rules apply and you’d apply for a variation instead, so talk to your tax agent.)

The certificate is free, valid for 12 months, and you can apply through the ATO’s clearance certificate page before you’ve even signed a contract. Most come through in a few days. Some take up to 28. Apply for it the week you decide to sell. It costs nothing, and it’s the single cheapest way to protect yourself from an expensive settlement delay.