Cost of Selling a House in NZ (2026): Full Breakdown
Most sellers I meet have one number in their head: the agent's commission. It's the biggest single line, so that's fair enough. But it's rarely more than two-thirds of what actually leaves your account between listing and settlement.
I photograph Auckland listings for a living, so I sit somewhere useful in this process. Close enough to see what vendors actually spend, far enough from the commission conversation to have no stake in it.
Here's the full picture for 2026, itemised, with real figures.
The short answer
Selling a $1 million house through an agency costs between $36,000 and $50,000, and more again if it needs repairs before it goes on the market.
Selling the same house privately costs roughly $2,900 to $15,000, because commission is most of that first number and it disappears entirely when there's no agency involved.
The spread inside each is wide because several line items are genuinely optional, and because agency commission varies more than most vendors realise. The table below is the agency version. Every row except commission applies either way.
Agent commission
The big one, and the one with the most variation.
Most major Auckland agencies use the same published structure: 3.95% on the first $400,000, then 2% on the balance, with a minimum of $11,000, plus GST. Barfoot & Thompson and Harcourts both publish exactly that, and neither charges a separate administration fee.
What that works out to:
The effective rate falls as the price rises, because the higher first-tier percentage only ever applies to $400,000 no matter what the house sells for.
Rates do vary between agencies, and some publish nothing at all. One Agency, for instance, operates as independent franchise offices that each set their own fees.
Be careful with the commission comparison tables that circulate online. I checked two of them against the agencies' own published rate cards and both were wrong, one by $2,242 and the other by $2,588, in opposite directions. Barfoot & Thompson and Harcourts publish identical rates, yet one table had them nearly $5,000 apart.
Ask for the dollar figure in writing, on your expected sale price. Ask early, too, because commission is negotiable — agencies cannot legally set fixed prices, and there is real room to move on higher-value properties.
Fixed-fee alternatives
Not every agency charges a percentage. Arizto works on a negotiated commission with a minimum of $11,000 plus GST, plus a $650 administration fee, payable once the agreement goes unconditional. Their published marketing has quoted different figures over time, so get the number written into the agency agreement before you sign anything.
The tradeoff is what the fee covers. Fixed-fee models usually bundle marketing and media into the price, which means less say over who photographs your property and what you end up with. Whether that's a genuine saving depends on whether the included media matches what you'd have chosen anyway.
Two things to remember. Commission is negotiable. Agencies cannot legally set fixed prices, and there's real flexibility on higher-value properties. And the rate is not the only variable: what the agency includes for that money varies. Some include a marketing contribution. Most do not.
Portal advertising
This is separate from commission and separate from your photography, and it is usually the second-largest line on the invoice.
Advertising packages across Trade Me Property and realestate.co.nz run $1,500 to $4,000 depending on the tier. Trade Me's Platinum and Gold listings syndicate to nine other sites including homes.co.nz and international portals, which is what you're paying for at the top end.
Listing fees are charged once and relisting is free until the property sells, but promotional extras are charged again on relist. If your campaign runs long, ask what that costs before you commit.
Marketing and media
Here is where I'd push back on how this cost is usually presented.
Most cost guides quote "marketing and photography" as one blended figure. Opes Partners puts it at $1,700 to $3,500. Vendors read that and assume the photography is the expensive part.
It isn't. Advertising spend is the expensive part. Media production is a comparatively small fixed cost: the photos, the floor plan, the aerial coverage, the video. And unlike advertising, you own the files afterwards.
What media production actually costs
See the full package breakdown.
So on a campaign where you're quoted a $3,000 "marketing budget", the media is typically $300 to $1,100 of it and the advertising is the rest.
Ask for it split. Media production is a fixed, known cost, and the files are yours across every channel with no licensing restriction: Trade Me, realestate.co.nz, print, social, signboards. Advertising spend is variable and buys attention for a fixed window. They are different kinds of purchase and they should be quoted separately.
Where I'd spend and where I'd hold back
Photography, aerial and a floor plan on every listing without exception. A floor plan in particular does disproportionate work, because it answers the layout question that otherwise costs you a viewing.
Video and staging are property-dependent. A vacant house needs staging, real or virtual. A property with a view or an indoor-outdoor flow that photos flatten needs video. A tidy three-bedroom on a flat section usually needs neither.
Legal and conveyancing
You need a lawyer or conveyancer. For a standard residential sale, expect $1,300 to $2,200, with basic sales at the lower end of that.
GST and disbursements are often additional. Disbursements are third-party costs like title searches, LINZ registration and bank transfer charges. Complexity adds cost: cross-lease, unit title, trusts and finance arrangements all push the fee up.
Ask for a fixed quote in writing. Hourly billing on a straightforward sale is how this line item doubles.
Staging
Physical staging runs $2,000 to $4,000 for a four-week campaign, with roughly $500 per additional week if the property doesn't sell in that window.
Virtual staging does the same job for the listing photos at a fraction of that. A full package on a three-bedroom home starts at $280, or $30 per photo.
The tradeoff is real. Virtual staging sells the photos; physical staging sells the open home. If your campaign depends on foot traffic and the property is completely empty, physical staging earns its cost. If buyers are largely deciding online before they visit, virtual staging is better value. If the campaign runs past four weeks, the gap widens fast.
Read the full comparison: home staging vs virtual staging in Auckland
Compliance reports
LIM report: $387 in Auckland. That's Auckland Council's standard ten-working-day service under the 2026/27 fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026. Urgent three-working-day service is $522. A residential property file, which is a cheaper and narrower alternative, is $79 standard or $121 urgent. Other councils set their own fees.
Builder's report: $700 to $1,000.
Neither is compulsory for a seller. Both are increasingly expected, and a vendor-supplied report removes a common reason for buyers to hesitate or discount their offer. Whether that's worth the outlay depends on the property's age and condition.
Presentation costs
Easy to forget when budgeting, and they add up:
Professional cleaning: $500–$1,000
Gardening and tidying: around $500
Exterior house wash: $500–$800
Repairs: anywhere from $0 to $10,000+
Moving and mortgage discharge
Moving a three-bedroom home within Auckland costs $900 to $2,050, depending on volume and access. Most movers charge $140–$180 per hour plus GST for a two-person crew and truck, and a typical three-bedroom move takes five to seven hours. Ask whether the quote includes GST and the call-out fee, which is usually equivalent to an hour or so of labour.
If the property is mortgaged, discharging it costs:
Bank discharge fee: $250–$500
LINZ registration of discharge: $122 including GST
If you're breaking a fixed-rate term early, ask your bank for a break-fee estimate in writing. That number is entirely specific to your rate and remaining term, and it can run to several thousand dollars.
Selling with an agent versus privately
Selling privately removes the largest cost and adds the largest workload.
The part private sellers most often underestimate is media. There's no agency arranging the photographer, so it either doesn't happen or it happens on a phone. A private listing with weak photos gives up more in sale price than it saved in commission.
Read the full guide to selling your house privately in NZ
A worked example
A three-bedroom home in Mt Albert, vacant, selling at $1.1 million with a mainstream Auckland agency.
About 3.9% of the sale price.
The commission line uses the published 3.95%-plus-2% structure. An agency that charges more, or a marketing package at the top of the portal range, moves this total by several thousand dollars.
Media production is $1,119 of that, under 3% of total selling costs, and the part that determines how the other $42,000 performs.
Ready to plan the media for your listing? Compare packages and pricing or build a quote for your property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I pay the agent if the house doesn't sell?
Commission, no. Marketing and advertising costs, usually yes. They're typically billed regardless of outcome. Confirm this in the agency agreement before you sign.
Is the commission negotiable?
Yes. Agencies cannot legally set fixed prices, and there's real flexibility on higher-value properties. A 0.5% reduction on a $1.1M sale is $5,500.
Why do agencies charge such different commission?
Different tier structures and different service models. At the common published rate a $1 million sale costs $31,970 including GST, but agencies are not obliged to publish a rate and not obliged to hold to it. Ask each one to quote the actual dollar figure on your expected sale price rather than the percentage.
Can I use the listing photos after the sale?
With Bash & Co, yes. Files are yours with no licensing restrictions, across every channel. Check this with any supplier, because it isn't universal.
What's the cheapest I can list a property properly?
A listing package from $299 GST-inclusive covers photography, aerial and a floor plan. Below that you're into phone photos, and the sale price cost of that exceeds the saving.
Do I need a LIM report to sell?
No, it's not compulsory for a seller. At $387 in Auckland it often pays for itself by removing a buyer objection before it's raised.
Where these figures come from. Commission rates are from Barfoot & Thompson's and Harcourts' published rate cards. The LIM fee is from Auckland Council's 2026/27 fees and charges schedule. Seller obligations and the negotiability of commission are from Settled.govt.nz. Media pricing is our own. Everything else is a market range current at the time of writing.
Figures checked August 2026. Auckland Council reviews its fees each 1 July.
