Cost of Selling a House in NSW, Every Line Explained

You have decided to sell, or you are close to it, and before you ring an agent you want a straight answer to one question: what is the cost of selling a house in NSW? Not a slogan, not a calculator that asks for your email first. The actual lines, what drives each one, and which ones you can control.

Here is the honest list, from a builder who spends most weeks inside houses about to go on the market in Wollongong and along the South Coast. Some of these costs are on an invoice. The biggest one usually is not.

Real estate agent commission in NSW

Commission is almost always the largest single fee you will pay, and the one people most often accept without a conversation.

No law in NSW sets what an agent can charge. The rate is whatever you agree in the agency agreement, so it is negotiable, and agents expect you to negotiate. OpenAgent's guide (as at September 2026) puts typical NSW commission between 2% and 2.5% in metro areas and 2.5% to 3.5% in regional areas, with a state average of around 2.31%. Where the Illawarra lands depends on the agent, the suburb and how much competition there is for your listing.

Worth knowing before you sign:

• Flat versus tiered. Some agents propose a base rate plus a higher rate on any amount above an agreed price. This can align the agent's interest with yours, but read the trigger price carefully.
• GST. Ask whether the quoted rate includes GST. It should be written into the agreement either way.
• Exclusive period. The agency agreement gives one agent exclusive rights for a set time. NSW Fair Trading publishes plain-language guidance on agency agreements and cooling-off rights; read it before signing.
• What is included. Some agents fold basic marketing into the commission. Most do not. Ask.

Commission comes out of the sale proceeds at settlement, which is convenient, and also makes it easy to stop noticing.

Marketing and campaign costs

This is the money spent getting buyers to your door: portal listings, photography, floor plan, copywriting, signboard, brochures and any video or social advertising. Unlike commission, marketing is usually paid before settlement, and you generally pay it whether or not the house sells.

OpenAgent (as at September 2026) describes NSW marketing costs running from around $600 to $10,000, or roughly half a percent to one percent of the expected sale price, depending on the package. The spread is that wide because a "premium" portal listing costs far more than a standard one, and because photography ranges from a quick shoot to a half-day production.

In the Illawarra, a typical campaign is a professional shoot, a floor plan, a featured listing on the main portals and a signboard, with drone photography common for anything with an escarpment or ocean outlook. Ask for the campaign as an itemised list. A good agent will tell you which items actually pull enquiry for your type of house and which are habit.

Auctioneer

If you sell by auction, the auctioneer is a separate fixed fee for the day. OpenAgent's NSW guide (as at September 2026) puts this between roughly $400 and $1,000. Some agencies bundle their own auctioneer; others bring in a specialist.

Auction and private treaty are both common in the Illawarra. Auction tends to suit houses with broad appeal and a clear buyer pool; private treaty suits a narrower audience or a vendor who wants control over timing. Neither is cheaper by default once you count the campaign, so choose on strategy, not on the auctioneer's fee.

Conveyancing, solicitor and the contract of sale

In NSW you cannot advertise a house for sale until a contract of sale exists. Your conveyancer or solicitor prepares it, and that work is usually charged as a fixed fee plus disbursements. OpenAgent (as at September 2026) describes NSW conveyancing fees for sellers generally sitting between $700 and $2,500, with an average around $1,400.

The disbursements are the prescribed documents that must be attached to the contract under the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022. For a standard house these include:

• a title search, showing the registered owner, any mortgage, easements and caveats
• a section 10.7 planning certificate from council, showing the zoning and planning controls that apply to the land
• a sewer service diagram, showing where the sewer runs and what is connected to it

Strata properties need additional documents. If a required document is missing when the contract is signed, the buyer can rescind within a set period, which is why your conveyancer will not let you list without them. Search fees are set by the issuing bodies, so shop for the conveyancer, not the searches. Your conveyancer also handles settlement and adjusts council and water rates between you and the buyer.

Government and lender fees

Sellers in NSW do not pay transfer duty; the buyer does. The government fees a seller meets are modest: the prescribed-document searches above, plus the registration fee for discharging your mortgage at NSW Land Registry Services.

Your lender will also charge a mortgage discharge fee to release the loan, set by the bank and listed in your loan documents. If you are on a fixed rate, ask about break costs as well; these can be far larger and are worth knowing before you set a settlement date.

Pool compliance, building and pest, and the other conditionals

Not every seller meets these, but if you do, they belong on the list.

Swimming pool or spa. The NSW Government's pool-owner guidance (as at September 2026) says a contract for sale must include the pool's registration certificate plus either a valid certificate of compliance, an occupation certificate issued within the last three years, or a certificate of non-compliance. A compliance certificate is valid for three years. Passing often means fence and gate work, so book the inspection early.

Pre-sale building and pest report. In NSW the buyer usually commissions their own, but some sellers order one to find problems before buyers do. The value is not the report; it is the chance to fix or disclose the items on it before they become a negotiating lever at the eleventh hour.

Styling. Professional furniture and styling has a genuine effect on photographs and open homes. Prices depend on house size and how much of it is furnished. Some styling companies allow payment at settlement; ask.

Pre-sale repairs and renovation. Anything from patching and painting to a resurfaced kitchen or a new bathroom. The most variable line on the list, and the one that depends most on your house. More on it below.

Moving. Removalists, cleaning, storage if there is a gap between settlement and your next home, disconnection and reconnection. Easy to forget when you are focused on the sale.

The tax question

If the house has always been your main residence, capital gains tax usually does not apply. If it was ever rented, was inherited, sits on a large block, or part of it was used for business, the position can differ. That is a question for your accountant, worth asking before you list rather than after settlement.

The cost that is not on any invoice

Every guide lists the fees above. Almost none mention the largest cost most sellers pay, because nobody sends a bill for it.

It is the discount buyers apply to an unprepared house.

Buyers walk through a home with original carpet, a dated kitchen, a leaking tap and a tired paint scheme, and they do not see a to-do list. They see risk. They price the risk generously, in their favour, and subtract it from what they will offer. That subtraction is real money leaving your pocket at settlement, and it is often larger than commission, marketing and conveyancing combined.

We call the difference between what a house would fetch today and what it would fetch once properly prepared the Sale Gap. Preparing a house for sale is not about making it lovely. It is about removing the reasons a buyer has to discount, in the order that matters: repair what gives them an excuse to say no, refresh what they see first, refine how the house works, then reveal it with styling. Paint is nearly always first; we have written about why.

Not every house has a large gap. But if yours has been a family home for twenty years with little done to it, the gap is often the biggest number in your sale, and deserves the scrutiny you give the agent's commission. Which pre-sale improvements are worth it is the place to start.

Where Uplifta fits

Uplifta is a builder-led pre-sale renovation business in Wollongong, the Illawarra and the South Coast. We work alongside your agent, never instead of them. Our job is the line nobody invoices: the gap between what your house would sell for now and what it would sell for prepared.

It starts with a free property review. We walk the house, assess the Sale Gap, and scope only the work likely to lift the price. One project manager runs the trades so you are not coordinating six people while also trying to move.

On eligible projects the cost is deferred to settlement under your building contract; eligibility and conditions apply. Read how that works at renovate now, pay at settlement and in the FAQ. For a rough sense of your own numbers, try the Sale Gap calculator, or book a free property review and we will come and look.