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The true cost of home ownership (from rates & repairs to termite infestations)

How much does it really cost to own a home in Australia? Kate Campbell and Owen Rask discuss the unexpected costs of home ownership.

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How much does it really cost to own a home in Australia?

There’s a lot of focus on buying properties, but being a homeowner involves many costs, which are often hidden at the start. In this conversation, Kate and Owen will unpack many of the costs of home ownership, share some ballpark figures, and discuss how to save, prepare, or mitigate these costs!

For the purpose of this episode, we’re excluding the cost of buying and selling the house. They are pretty big costs, but we’ve done episodes on those topics and need to rein the scope in, or we’ll be here all day.

Plus, we asked our community members about some of the unexpected costs of home ownership that they believe people should know about, which we’ll share throughout this episode.

A huge list of potential home owenership costs

Item Cost & Notes
Council rates This was one of the most commonly mentioned unexpected costs from our community.

Rates are a form of property tax levied by councils to fund local infrastructure and services. The value of each property is used as the basis for calculating what each property owner will pay.

The services provided vary greatly from council to council, but include:

  • waste collection
  • local road maintenance and construction
  • maternal and child care, kindergartens, and services for youth and older citizens
  • public libraries
  • public sporting and recreation facilities such as swimming pools, ovals, parks, gardens, playground, public halls and arts centres
  • town planning and related services
  • traffic management and animal control services
  • economic development activity, tourism, community arts projects and festivals.

Rates are one of the main ways that councils get the money they need to deliver essential services and infrastructure to the Victorian community.

Usually broken down into:

  • Residential rate
  • Emergency services levy
  • Waste management levy

Explainer on how rates can be calculated: Council rates and charges

Examples (from our community)

  • $1,500 for inner city Melbourne (apartment)
  • $2,300 for regional Victorian house ($350k Mildura)
  • $3,500 for house in QLD
  • $4,000 for 4 bed house on ¼ acre block near Diamond Creek, Victoria
  • $1,974 for double story 550sqm house in Lake Maquarie, NSW
  • $3,500 for a million dollar house in Ballarat, Victoria
Insurance If you’re in an apartment/complex this may be included as part of your body corporate or strata fees (please check).

Calculators – Insurance Council of Australia

You may need to get an up to date valuation done for the property, or you may be underinsured.

Building insurance: also known as homeowners insurance, covers the cost of repairing or rebuilding your primary residence if it is damaged by fire, flood, or storm damage. It covers the main structure, permanent fixtures and fittings (such as kitchen cabinets, plumbing, and carpet), and other buildings on your property (such as garages and garden sheds).

Examples (from our community)

  • QUOTE I GOT ONLINE: $1,545 for inner city Melbourne (apartment) with $1k excess
    • $1,365 with $5k excess
  • $1,100 single story house in Nobel Park, Victoria
  • $1,300 

Contents Insurance: Contents insurance covers the contents of your home in case they are lost, stolen, or damaged. It includes furniture, clothes, jewelry, and electronics. This is not a must have.

Examples (from our community)

  • QUOTE I GOT ONLINE: $300 for inner city Melbourne (apartment) with $20,000 of contents cover – $1k excess
    • $175 with $5k excess
  • $350

You can also combine home & contents insurance. 

  • $1,700 2br cottage (Brisban 4017) (½ suburb underwater in 22 floods) house & low contents
  • $6,000 home & contents ($2m) with itemised insurables ($40k) in Sydney 

Ways to save?

  • Increase excess to reduce premium
  • Some insurers will reduce your premium if you have homme security installed
  • Shop around regularly – don’t let the loyalty tax hit you
  • Take advantage of a multi-policy discount (if you own more than one property)
  • Consider how much contents cover you really need
Owners corporation An owners corporation (formerly body corporate) manages the common property of a residential, commercial, retail, industrial or mixed-use property development.

Owners of flats, apartments or units are usually members of an owners corporation.

This is usually outsourced to a third party company that specialises in this service. Their fees will be packaged in your annual/

Responsibilities of an owners corporation:

  • manage and administer the common property
  • repair and maintain the common property, fixtures and services
  • take out and maintain required insurance
  • raise fees from the lot owners to meet financial obligations
  • prepare financial statements and keep financial records
  • provide owners corporations certificates when requested
  • keep an owners corporation register
  • establish a grievance procedure.

Example costs:

  • $2,500 for inner city Melbourne (apartment)
  • Example with pools
  • Another state

Buying an apartment or unit – checklist – Consumer Affairs Victoria

Furniture Most of us have a collection of pieces weve collected from family, share houses, gumtree and Ikea over the years, but furniture adds up, especially when you’re starting from scratch or upgrading.

Cost estimates on the high end (from an interior design company)

Our design team recommend the following investment averages based on three different kinds of home.

Hint: these figures are all based on starting from scratch for a home that has not one single stick of furniture in it.

House type 1

  • Three- bedroom, one living room, property valued at less than $1 million.
  • Average investment to have the whole house. – $35,000

House type 2

  • Three- bedroom, two living rooms, property valued at $1.5 – 2 million.
  • Average investment to have the whole house. – $60,000

House type 3

  • Three- bedroom, two living rooms, property valued at $3 million or more.
  • Average investment to have the whole house – $150,000

What about on a budget? Here’s what I found online…

This Reddit thread is really helpful Average cost to furnish a house. How much did you spend? : r/AusFinance

Emergency repairs

+

Ongoing maintenance (e.g. plumbers & electricians)

There are a whole heap of unexpected costs that can hit you as a homeowner, and you might like to have some spare cash set aside for things like burst pipes, broken heaters in winter, or leaking roofs.When I asked our community how many times they’d hired a tradie (could be emergency or routine – see next section) over the past two years, here’s what they said:

  • 5+ times → 16%
  • 2 to 4 times → 44%
  • Only once → 16%
  • No → 24%

When I asked what you’d hired a tradie for, here’s what you said:

  • New fence $3,000
  • Plaster a bedroom $1,300
  • Electrical upgrades (downlights, fans, switches, ducted etc.) $15,000
  • Fence repair $4,000
  • Aircon, toilet, electric fan, fence
  • Plumbing $300
  • Snake catcher $250 fee
  • Plumber $800 a day + materials
  • Sparky $200 + $150 an hour
  • Pool $100k too much!

And on top of those emergency repairs, you’ve got ongoing repairs.

  • Light bulbs
  • Broken appliances
  • Leaks
Safety systems
  • Getting an electrical safety check
  • Replacing smoke alarms
  • Security systems
Fencing Average Fencing Costs

  • Metal or chain fencing: $70 – $120 per 15m roll
  • PVC fencing: $50 – $110 per metre
  • Wrought iron fencing: $450+ per metre
  • Colorbond fencing: $70 – $200 per panel, roughly 2.4 metres wide
  • Timber fencing: $50 – $120 per metre

These prices are an approximation and do not include installation costs or extra materials such as screws, posts, or gates.

Fencing Installation Costs

  • Installing a new fence: $2,200 – $4,000
  • Replacing an old fence: $1,600 – $3,100
  • Repairing an old fence: $750 – $1,400

Source: How Much Does Fencing Cost? | 2024 Cost Guide | Service.com.au

Replacing hot water system This one popped up a few times in our community’s responses, so I thought it was worth including.

Hot water system $2,500

You may have government discounts: Hot water system discounts – Victorian Energy Upgrades

Typically, the cost of replacing a hot water system in Australia ranges between $1600 to $3500 (Replacing a Hot Water System in Australia: How Much Does it Cost?

Garden $1,000 for yard/grass maintenance!$2,000 in gravel because our driveway turned into a clay bog pit when it rained

Mowing

Australia’s favourite lawn mowing and gardening service

Bunnings trips 

Trees

Pests (e.g. mice & termites)  Termites eeek!

How Much does Pest Control Cost in 2024? | Dentec

What are the average costs of pest control services in 2024? | Airtasker AU

Extra features like pools and tennis courts Jim’s Pool CareIf you can do a little bit yourself a monthly program should do fine and costs are usually around $77-$120 per service (depending on state & city) plus chemicals will be extra on to of this. You should also get the benefit of having your pool company on call if something goes wrong.

As a minimum, we will recommend every 4 weeks and during summer more often if possible (every 1,2 or 3 weeks).

How Much Does Pool Cleaning Cost? | Jim’s Pool Care

Time sucks
  • Irritating neighbours
    Dealing with insurers when needing to make a claim
  • Body corporates

Podcast resources

  • See the table above for all the resources 👆🏽

Don't look down for great deals 👇

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The information on this website and in our podcasts is general financial advice only. That means, the advice does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, you should consider if the advice is appropriate to you and your needs, before acting on the information. In addition, you should obtain and read the product disclosure statement (PDS) before making a decision to acquire a financial product. If you don’t know what your needs are, you should consult a trusted and licensed financial adviser who can provide you with personal financial product advice. Please read our Terms & Conditions and Financial Services Guide before using this website.

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