Counts the loan interest you’ve paid — not just the agent’s fee.
Every cost, in the order the money moved — plus your break-even sale price.
Enter what you paid for it and your expected sale price — the real number appears as you type.
Estimates · general information only — how these numbers are worked out.
Agent-fee calculators stop at commission. The real ledger of a property exit has seven lines — and the biggest one was never a “selling cost” at all.
| Cost | Typical amount (2026) | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Loan interest while owning | $150,000–$250,000+ over 5 years | The number this calculator adds — roughly nine times a typical agent commission. |
| Agent commission | 1.8–2.5% metro · up to 3.5% regional | Negotiable. Quotes vary on whether GST is included — always confirm. |
| Marketing | ~0.5% of the price | Photography, listing portals, signboard, copywriting. |
| Conveyancing (selling) | $800–$2,500 | Sellers pay more than buyers — the seller prepares the contract. |
| Mortgage discharge | $500–$750 | Lender fee plus the state discharge registration fee. |
| Staging (optional) | $2,000–$8,000 | Furniture hire and styling for the campaign. |
| CGT (investors) | Depends on gain and bracket | 50% discount in full for sales contracted before 1 July 2027; main residence generally exempt. |
Full pricing of every line, state by state, in our guide: How much does it cost to sell a house in Australia? (2026)
Your break-even price is the minimum sale price that leaves you with $0 after every cost — buying costs, the loan interest you’ve paid, holding costs, selling costs and tax. In this page’s worked example (a $1,000,000 NSW purchase held five years on an $800,000 loan at 6%), that number is about $1,347,000 — well above the price that “makes a profit” on paper. The calculator above shows yours as you type.
Interest paid on an $800,000 loan at 6% over five years: about $232,000 — roughly nine times a typical $24,000 agent commission on a $1.2 million sale.
Standard 30-year principal-and-interest amortization at 6% p.a., first five years. Agent benchmark: 2% metro commission. The price-fit band above uses ABS Total Value of Dwellings mean prices (2012–2026) and RBA table F2 bond yields — primary public datasets.
From 1 July 2027 the 50% CGT discount is replaced for gains that accrue after that date. It is not a lose-everything deadline: sales contracted before 1 July 2027 keep the full discount, and for later sales the transitional rules are expected to preserve the discount on the gain accrued up to that date via a cost-base reset. What changes is the tax on growth after 1 July 2027 — which is why the sell-year selector above matters. Model both timings here, put the tax detail through the CGT calculator, and read how the 12 May 2026 contract rule interacts with it before deciding anything with an agent. For one rental run through this calculator at a 2027 and a 2029 sale, with the split tax worked line by line, see should you sell before 1 July 2027?
Typical all-in selling costs run 3–5% of the sale price before any tax: agent commission of 1.8–2.5% in metro areas (up to 3.5% in regional areas — and quotes vary on whether GST is included, so always confirm), marketing at around 0.5% of the price, conveyancing $800–$2,500 (sellers pay more than buyers because they prepare the contract), mortgage discharge $500–$750 including the state registration fee, and optional staging $2,000–$8,000. Investors add capital gains tax on top. But the biggest cost of the whole journey usually isn’t a selling cost at all — it’s the loan interest paid while owning, often $150,000–$250,000+ over five years, which no agent-fee calculator shows.
True walk-away profit = sale price − (purchase price + stamp duty and buying costs + loan interest paid over the years you owned it + rates, insurance and upkeep + agent commission and selling costs + CGT for investors). Most sellers only subtract the purchase price and the agent’s fee — the calculator above runs the full version in about a minute.
The break-even sale price is the minimum sale price at which you walk away with zero after every cost — purchase costs, interest paid, holding costs, selling costs and tax. In this page’s example (a $1,000,000 NSW purchase held five years on an $800,000 loan at 6%), the break-even price is approximately $1,347,000. Anything below that number is a loss in cash terms, whatever the paper profit says.
On an $800,000 principal-and-interest loan at 6% (30-year term), monthly repayments are about $4,796, and over five years you pay roughly $232,000 in interest while only $55,600 comes off the principal. That interest is about nine times a typical $24,000 agent commission on a $1.2 million sale — and it’s the number missing from every agent-fee calculator.
Yes — under the cost-base rules (section 110-25, ITAA 1997), incidental costs of buying (stamp duty, conveyancing, inspections) are added to your cost base, and incidental selling costs (agent commission, marketing, conveyancing) reduce your capital proceeds — both shrink the taxable gain. Loan interest is not part of the cost base for a rented property, because it was already deductible year by year. Estimate the tax side separately with the Velofy CGT calculator.
Generally no — the main residence exemption applies if the property was your home for the whole time you owned it and wasn’t used to produce income. Renting out part or all of it, or running a business from it, can create a partial liability. This calculator’s owner-occupier mode therefore shows cash position only; the investor mode estimates CGT with the 50% discount that applies in full to sales contracted before 1 July 2027.
It is not a lose-everything deadline, so model it rather than rush it. Sales contracted before 1 July 2027 get the full 50% discount. For properties sold later, the transitional rules are expected to preserve the 50% discount on the gain accrued up to 1 July 2027 (via a cost-base reset at that date), with only growth after that date taxed under the new indexation rules — so the decision mostly concerns your post-2027 growth, your income in the sale year, and the costs of selling earlier than planned. Run your walk-away number above for different sale years, estimate the tax side with the Velofy CGT calculator, and confirm timing with a registered tax agent.
No — stamp duty on a property purchase is paid by the buyer, so it is not a cost of selling. But the stamp duty you paid when you bought the property still matters at sale time: it forms part of your CGT cost base and reduces the taxable gain for investors, and either way it is real cash you put in that your walk-away number has to recover. The calculator above includes your original stamp duty in the buying costs so the profit figure reflects it.
No. Price growth measures the property; your return measures your money — and loan interest, buying, holding and selling costs sit between them. A house bought for $628,000 and sold for $700,000 five years later grew 11.5% (about 2.2% a year), yet after roughly $280,000 of loan interest and $45,000 of buying and selling costs the owner can still walk away behind in cash terms. The reverse also happens: because you control the whole property with a smaller amount of your own cash, price growth — and price falls — are magnified on the money you actually put in. The calculator above shows both numbers side by side.