About buyingcost.com.au

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make. Most calculators only show the mortgage repayment — but that's not the real cost. Council rates, water bills, insurance, stamp duty, LMI, conveyancing, government fees — they all add up, and they're different depending on where you buy.

buyingcost.com.au was built to answer one question honestly: "What will it REALLY cost?"

Our methodology

Stamp duty

We calculate stamp duty using the exact bracket rates published by Revenue NSW. For first home buyers, we apply the current concession thresholds — full exemption for properties under $800,000 and a sliding scale up to $1,000,000.

Ongoing costs

Council rates, water rates, and insurance estimates are sourced at the postcode level. When you enter a postcode, we look up the specific local government area, water provider, and insurance zone — not a statewide average.

Mortgage repayments

We use the standard principal and interest (P&I) amortisation formula. The default interest rate and loan term are editable assumptions — change them to match your situation.

LMI

Lenders Mortgage Insurance is estimated using industry-average rate tiers based on your loan-to-value ratio (LVR). Actual LMI varies by lender and insurer.

Data sources

• Stamp duty rates: Revenue NSW — published bracket rates
• Council rates: Individual council websites (updated annually)
• Water rates: Sydney Water published usage charges
• Median prices: Domain / CoreLogic public suburb data
• LMI rates: Industry average estimates (Genworth/QBE published tables)
• Insurance zones: Insurance Council of Australia / NRMA public data

Our commitment to accuracy

We update our data sources regularly and display the date of last update on every page. Every assumption is editable and visible. We show our sources so you can verify the numbers yourself.

This calculator provides estimates only. It does not constitute financial advice. Always consult a licensed financial adviser before making property purchase decisions.

Contact

Found an error in our data? Have a suggestion? We'd love to hear from you.

Email: hello@buyingcost.com.au