The Cost of Selling a House
💵 Sale Price Is Not What You Keep
The number that matters when you sell is not the price on the agreement. It is what lands in your account after everyone has been paid and your mortgage has been discharged. The gap between those two numbers is larger than most people expect, and it is entirely predictable, which means you can work it out before you list rather than discovering it at settlement.
The net sale proceeds calculator puts the whole chain in one place.
🏦 Commission and Marketing
If you sell through a licensed agency, commission is usually the single largest cost, and it is charged on the sale price rather than on your equity. On a typical New Zealand sale it is a tiered percentage: a higher rate on the first portion of the price and a lower rate above it, plus GST.
Marketing is usually separate
Vendor-paid advertising is the New Zealand norm: the marketing campaign is generally your cost, agreed in the agency agreement, and in most cases it is payable whether or not the property sells. That is the part that surprises people, so read what happens to marketing costs if the campaign ends without a sale.
- Portal listings, which are the largest single line for most campaigns.
- Photography, floor plans and video.
- Signage and print.
- Staging or furniture hire, if you use it.
Compare structures with the real estate commission comparison calculator and test what a negotiated rate is worth with the commission negotiation savings calculator.
⚖ Legal and Settlement Costs
You need a lawyer or conveyancer to sell. They prepare and check the agreement, hold or account for the deposit, arrange the discharge of your mortgage, calculate the apportionment of rates and complete the electronic transfer of title. This is not optional and it is not expensive relative to the transaction.
| Item | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Conveyancing fee | Preparing and completing the sale |
| Mortgage discharge | Removing your lender's security from the title |
| Rates apportionment | Splitting rates between you and the buyer at settlement |
| Disbursements | Registration, searches and similar third-party costs |
Estimate this line with the conveyancing fee calculator, and see the settlement apportionment calculator for how rates are split.
🔧 Preparation, and Knowing When to Stop
Presentation spending is the least disciplined part of most selling budgets, because it has no natural ceiling. There is always another room that could be painted. The test for any given job is whether it returns more than it costs, and for most work the honest answer is that it does not.
Usually worth doing
- Cleaning, decluttering and removing excess furniture.
- Small repairs that a buyer would otherwise notice and price against you.
- Garden tidy-up, because it is cheap and it is the first thing seen.
- Fixing anything that a building inspection would flag as a defect rather than wear.
Rarely worth doing before a sale
- A new kitchen or bathroom, which almost never returns its cost on a sale.
- Structural work that a buyer may want done differently.
- Anything requiring consent that would not be finished before settlement.
📈 The Costs That Catch People Out
Four costs sit outside the obvious list and account for most of the difference between what people expect and what they receive.
The last one is quiet and continuous. While the property is on the market you are still paying the mortgage, rates, insurance and maintenance, and if you have already bought elsewhere you are paying twice. The holding cost while unsold calculator turns that into a weekly figure.
🎯 Test Your Knowledge
Quiz on The Cost of Selling a House in NZ (10 Questions)
Related guides
- Real estate commission, how commission is structured and negotiated.
- Selling privately or with an agent, the cost comparison in full.
- The bright-line test, whether tax applies to your sale.
Official New Zealand sources
The rules described on this page come from these bodies. Each link goes to the page used, and each was checked on 15 August 2026.
- Settled.govt.nz, selling your property, the Real Estate Authority's guidance on the selling process and costs.
- Real Estate Authority, agency agreements, what an agency agreement must contain, including fees and expenses.
This guide explains how the rules work. It is not legal advice about your own sale, and a property lawyer should review any agreement before you sign it.