Free · no sign-up · every figure shown
Can we afford it?
Let's find out properly.
Six steps, one number from you, and the real all-in cost of a real place at the end of it: stamp duty, insurance, the fees nobody warns you about.
“You don't need to know anything yet. Start here.”
Step 1 of 6 · Where you stand
Am I even ready to do this?
Almost nobody does, and that isn't on you. The costs sit in about nine different places and nobody gets paid to put them in one. We're about to.
“You don't need to know anything yet. Start here.”
The price on the listing is not the price. Stamp duty, mortgage insurance, a conveyancer, an inspector, the land registry, your lender, the removalist. Every one of them wants money, and they all want it at a different moment.
That's why "can we afford it?" feels unanswerable. You haven't failed to work it out. The full number is spread across eight state revenue offices, a dozen fee schedules and a lot of fine print, and nobody puts it together for you for nothing.
We'll put it together. It takes one number and about two minutes.
“Just what you've saved. A rough figure is fine.”
Step 2 of 6 · Your budget
What can I actually afford?
One number from you. Everything else we work out.
“Just what you've saved. A rough figure is fine.”
A rough figure is fine. You can change it any time, and nothing here leaves your own browser.
“Pick a state. I'll do the sorting.”
Step 3 of 6 · Where it reaches
Where does that money actually go?
Actual suburbs, with their real median prices. Some of those we measured. The rest we estimated, and we'll tell you which is which.
“Pick a state. I'll do the sorting.”
Tap a state to explore its suburbs
Tap the state you are looking in. You can change it later.
“This is the bit nobody shows you.”
Step 4 of 6 · The true cost
What does this place really cost me?
Not the price. The cash you need on settlement day, and what the place costs to keep every month after that. Including the bills nobody warned you about.
“This is the bit nobody shows you.”
“You don't have to do this part on your own.”
Step 5 of 6 · Who you need
Who do I need to call next?
Four or five people stand between you and a set of keys. This is who they are and what each one costs.
“You don't have to do this part on your own.”
None of these people work for us and none of them are ranked here. They are listed in the order you will actually need them, and each one says what it costs before it says anything else, because a referral that hides the price is not help.
A mortgage broker
First, and before you look at a single listing.
Checks what a lender will actually lend you, which is not the same as what a calculator says, then gets you pre-approved so you can make an offer that means something. They compare across 20 to 40 lenders instead of the one you happen to bank with.
- What it costs
- Usually nothing to you. Brokers are paid a commission by the lender, and under the Best Interests Duty they are legally required to act in your interests rather than the lender's.
- Ask them
- “How many lenders are on your panel, and how are you paid on this loan?”
See licensed brokersNothing here pays usA conveyancer or solicitor
Before you sign anything. Ideally before you even bid.
Reads the contract before you are bound by it, runs the title and planning searches, and handles settlement. This is who finds the easement, the unapproved deck and the road-widening proposal.
- What it costs
- Roughly $1,200 to $2,500 including search fees. Most will quote a fixed fee over the phone.
- Ask them
- “Is that a fixed fee including searches, and can you review a contract before auction?”
How we choose who to listNothing here pays usA building and pest inspector
After your offer is accepted, before the cooling-off period ends.
Independently inspects the structure, the roof, the wiring and the termite situation, and gives you a written report you can walk away on, or negotiate with.
- What it costs
- $400 to $800 for a house. For a unit you want a strata report instead, around $300 to $650, which shows the body corporate's finances and any special levy heading your way.
- Ask them
- “Are you licensed and insured, and do I get the report before my cooling-off period ends?”
What an inspection coversNothing here pays usA home insurer
From the day you exchange contracts, not from settlement.
Covers the building from the moment the risk becomes yours, which in most states is at exchange rather than when you get the keys. Your lender will require it as a loan condition.
- What it costs
- Roughly $1,400 to $2,600 a year for a house. Flood and bushfire exposure move it a long way in either direction. A unit is covered by the strata policy, so you only insure contents.
- Ask them
- “Am I covered from exchange, and what is excluded for flood at this exact address?”
What property insurance coversNothing here pays usA removalist
Two to three weeks out. Good ones book up.
Moves everything you own. The one entry on this list where the cheapest quote is often fine.
- What it costs
- $600 to $3,000 depending on distance and how much you own, not on what the house cost.
- Ask them
- “Is the quote fixed or hourly, and does it include insurance in transit?”
Moving checklistNothing here pays us
How we make money, plainly. Nothing on this page is a paid placement today. If that ever changes, the link itself will say “Paid link” before you click it, and being paid will never change who is listed, what order they appear in, or what we say about them. That firewall is the only reason any of the numbers above are worth reading.
“That's the whole path. Now the first step.”
Step 6 of 6 · This week
What do I do this week?
Three things, sized to fit a week. Not a five-year plan.
“That's the whole path. Now the first step.”
Get pre-approved before you look at anything
Your savings cover settlement, which means the only thing between you and an offer is a lender saying yes in writing. Pre-approval lasts about 90 days and turns you from a browser into a buyer at an auction.
Find a licensed brokerCheck whether a grant applies to you
State grants and duty concessions are worth five figures and nobody tells you about them. You have to claim them yourself. The rules turn on whether the home is new, what it cost, and whether you have owned before, and every state does it differently.
See what your state offersWalk the suburb on a weekday evening
Every number on this page is about money and none of them is about whether you want to live there. Go at 6pm on a Tuesday, not at a Saturday open. Time the commute you would actually do. This is the one step no calculator can do for you.
Look at what is around it
Or go straight to a calculator
Every one of these is free, shows its formula, and needs no sign-up.
Common questions about Australian housing affordability
Everything first home buyers, renters and investors ask about property in Australia.
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