Pulling Out of a NSW Home Purchase Costs Nearly Five Times the Inspection

The costs of buying a house on top of the deposit

At Going Rate's prices, conveyancing with typical disbursements ($1,750), a combined building and pest inspection ($680), a certified valuation ($550), a local removalist ($1,900) and rekeying the locks ($350) add up to about $5,230. The buyer pays them from savings alongside the deposit. Leave out the valuation, which a lender often orders for itself, and the total is about $4,680.

The Prime Minister's office used a $42,200 deposit, 5% of the $844,000 national median home price, to promote the expanded 5% Deposit Scheme in October 2025. The $5,230 of services adds about 12% to that deposit, roughly an eighth. A buyer moving from another state swaps the local move for an interstate removalist ($6,600), which lifts the services total to about $9,930 at Going Rate's prices, nearly a quarter of that same deposit.

Moneysmart tells buyers that a good savings goal is 20% of the purchase price plus enough to cover buying costs, and its deposit formula adds those costs to the price before subtracting what you can borrow. It does not put a dollar figure on them. Going Rate's service prices and the state duty tables below put numbers on that line.

Building and pest inspection versus the price of pulling out

A combined building and pest inspection ($680) is about 0.05% of the ABS mean NSW dwelling price of $1,304,900 for the June quarter 2026. Once a NSW buyer exchanges contracts, the cooling-off period runs 5 business days, and the NSW Government says withdrawing costs 0.25% of the price, or $250 for every $100,000. On the mean NSW dwelling that is about $3,260, nearly five times the inspection.

Queensland and Victoria set similar penalties. In Queensland the seller may deduct up to 0.25% of the price, which on the ABS mean Queensland dwelling price of $1,130,600 is up to about $2,830, roughly four times the inspection. Consumer Affairs Victoria says a Victorian buyer who cools off forfeits $100 or 0.2% of the price, whichever is greater. On the ABS mean Victorian dwelling price of $918,400 that is about $1,840, about 2.7 times the inspection.

At Going Rate's prices, the penalty overtakes the inspection on any home above $272,000 in NSW or Queensland, or above $340,000 in Victoria. The ABS mean dwelling price in each of those three states sits well above its crossover.

When to book the building and pest inspection

Moneysmart tells buyers to use the cooling-off period to get a building and pest report done by a professional. A buyer who inspects during cooling-off and gets a bad report pays for the inspection and then the penalty, about $3,940 in total on the mean NSW dwelling. A buyer who inspects before exchanging pays only for the inspection, and can walk away at no further cost or use the report to negotiate before signing.

Auctions leave no choice. Moneysmart says there is no cooling-off period when you buy at auction, and in Victoria the cooling-off right also does not apply to sales made within three clear business days before or after a public auction. A buyer bidding at auction has to inspect before the hammer falls. At Going Rate's prices, inspecting four homes before winning one still costs less than one NSW cooling-off withdrawal on a mean-priced home.

For apartments, Building Commission NSW's 2025 Strata Defects Survey, answered by strata managers representing 520 of 1,238 buildings, found at least one serious defect in 53%, unchanged from 2023. Waterproofing defects showed up in 52% of buildings registered from 2018 to 2021, against 22% of those registered from 2022 to 2024, and fire safety defects in 32% against 16%. Buildings registered since 2022 have also had fewer years for defects to surface.

Conveyancing and property valuation costs

Conveyancing with typical disbursements ($1,750) is the largest professional fee among the core services, about a third of the $5,230 total. The conveyancer or solicitor checks the contract, handles the searches and settles the purchase. The Australian Registrars' National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC) says conveyancers are not permitted to operate in Queensland or the ACT, so buyers there use a solicitor. Get the contract reviewed before exchange, because in NSW the cooling-off clock starts as soon as contracts are exchanged.

A certified property valuation ($550) is optional for most buyers. A lender usually orders its own valuation before approving the loan, and that report is for the lender. An independent valuation helps a buyer who wants a second view on price before bidding or making an offer, or who is buying privately with no agent guide. It costs about $130 less than a building and pest inspection ($680) at Going Rate's prices.

Stamp duty on a first home depends on the state

Stamp duty, also called transfer duty, can be the largest cost after the deposit, and it varies more by state than any service on this list. Revenue NSW's 2026-27 rate table charges $11,602 plus $4.50 for every $100 over $387,000, up to $1.29 million. NSW first home buyers pay no duty up to $800,000 and get a concession below $1 million, thresholds that have applied to contracts exchanged since 1 July 2023. Going Rate estimates from the Revenue NSW table that a buyer who is not a first home buyer pays about $30,000 on an $800,000 home, nearly six times the $5,230 of services.

SRO Victoria's general rate is $2,870 plus 6% of the value over $130,000, up to $960,000. Victorian first home buyers pay no duty up to $600,000 and reduced duty from $600,001 to $750,000. SRO Victoria lists no first home buyer reduction above $750,000, and Going Rate estimates from the SRO table that a first home buyer at $750,001 pays about $40,000, more than seven times the services total.

Some states are more generous. Queensland gives a full concession on a new first home regardless of value for contracts signed from 1 May 2025, and established first homes are duty-free at $700,000 or less. Western Australia lifted its first home duty-free threshold to $600,000 from 7 May 2026, with concessions to $800,000. In the ACT, eligible home buyers, first home buyers included, pay no duty at any price from 1 July 2026, with no income test. Tasmania went the other way, and its exemption for established first homes up to $750,000 is not available for transactions settling after 30 June 2026.

Lenders mortgage insurance and the 5% Deposit Scheme

Moneysmart describes lenders mortgage insurance as usually a one-off cost, payable when the amount borrowed exceeds 80% of the property's value, and says it only protects the lender. Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, expanded on 1 October 2025, first home buyers can buy with a 5% deposit and no LMI, with no income caps and no waitlists, according to the scheme's government site.

The Prime Minister's office put the saving at about $42,000 of LMI on a $1 million home bought with a $50,000 deposit. That is about eight times the $5,230 of services at Going Rate's prices. The scheme removes the insurance and leaves every service bill in place, so a buyer with $50,000 saved still needs about $5,230 more in cash, plus any stamp duty.

Buyers have moved to the scheme. Housing Australia says more than one in three first home buyers used it in 2024-25, before the expansion. Insurance News reported in August 2026 that LMI provider Helia's gross written premium fell 44% to $61.6 million in the first half, and interim chief executive Michael Cant said most first home buyer demand went to the government's scheme. The ABS counted 29,319 first home buyer loans in the June quarter 2026, about 36% of owner-occupier loans, with the RBA cash rate at 4.60% after four rises this year.

Moving costs, new locks and the optional buyers agent

A local removalist ($1,900) is the largest single bill among the core services. An interstate move ($6,600) costs about three and a half times as much at Going Rate's prices. Once the keys arrive, rekeying the locks ($350) is the smallest bill of all, and it stops previous owners, tenants and tradespeople with old keys from getting in.

A buyers agent ($17,500) is optional. At Going Rate's typical price the fee is about 3.3 times the $5,230 of core services combined and would pay for nearly 26 building and pest inspections. The NSW Government says buyers agents must hold a real estate licence or a certificate of registration, their fees are not set by law, and they must declare any conflict of interest. A buyer who uses one should compare fee structures in writing and still book their own inspection before signing.

Common questions