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 for sales settled before 1 July 2027; main residence generally exempt. |
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 to sales settled before 1 July 2027.