Costs when buying a home

It's not just a deposit you’ll need to save for when planning to buy a home. Find out more about these other costs.

On this page

Upfront costs

There are a number of upfront costs when buying a home, such as:

transfer duty or stamp duty, which is based on the value of your home
Lenders' Mortgage Insurance (LMI) if you’re borrowing more than 80% of your home’s purchase price
pest, building, or strata reports
legal or conveyancing fees
mortgage registration fees
registration of title
loan application fees, including independent valuers' fees.

Be aware that you may have to pay some of these upfront costs multiple times (e.g., building reports or legal fees) if you offer or place bids on more than one home.

Calculate stamp duty

Ongoing costs

Ongoing costs of buying and owning a home can include:

land tax
council rates
connecting and paying for utilities like water
insurance
strata levies, if applicable
maintenance.

These costs will affect the money you have available to make your mortgage repayments and pay for everyday expenses.

It’s worth adding these costs into your budget so you can calculate how much you’ll need to save to buy and manage a home.