Ongoing Costs of Owning a Home Per Year

The short answer

Beyond your mortgage, owning a home in Australia typically costs roughly $6,000–$15,000+ per year in 2025-26. The main ongoing costs are council rates (about $1,500–$2,500), water and sewerage (about $1,000–$1,500), building or home-and-contents insurance (about $1,500–$4,000 depending on your state and risk), strata/body-corporate fees if you own an apartment or townhouse (often $2,000–$10,000+), and a maintenance buffer of roughly 1% of the property's value each year. Owner-occupiers are normally exempt from land tax on their main home.

How ongoing home costs work in Australia

"Ongoing costs" are everything you pay to keep a home, separate from the upfront costs (deposit, stamp duty, LMI, conveyancing) and separate from your loan repayments. They recur every year for as long as you own the property.

• Council rates: charged by your local council for waste collection, roads and community services. They vary by location and land value, and are usually billed quarterly or annually. A common range is about $1,872–$2,000 a year, though it can be higher in some councils.
• Water and sewerage: a fixed service charge plus usage. Sydney Water, for example, caps typical quarterly house charges around $360.
• Insurance: building cover is essential, and home-and-contents is common. Premiums have risen sharply. Combined home-and-contents now averages roughly $2,800–$3,500 a year nationally, and far more in cyclone- or flood-exposed areas (north Queensland, NT). See Moneysmart on home insurance.
• Strata / body-corporate fees: only for apartments, units and townhouses. They cover shared building maintenance, insurance of common property and a sinking fund, and range widely, often $400–$2,500 per quarter depending on facilities.
• Maintenance: a widely used rule of thumb is to set aside about 1% of the property's value each year for repairs and upkeep.
• Land tax: your principal place of residence is generally exempt from land tax in every state (Revenue NSW, Vic SRO). It mainly applies to investment properties and second homes.

Worked example: a $750,000 house in NSW

Imagine a standalone house (no strata), valued at $750,000, lived in as your home:

Cost	Estimate (per year)
Council rates	$2,000
Water & sewerage	$1,200
Building + contents insurance	$2,500
Maintenance (≈1% of $750k)	$7,500
Land tax (owner-occupier)	$0 (exempt)
Total ongoing	$13,200

That's about $1,100 a month on top of your mortgage. For comparison, a standard $600,000 loan at 6% over 30 years repays about $3,597 a month, so the running costs add roughly a third again on top of the loan repayment.

Swap the house for a $750,000 apartment and you'd usually drop the standalone maintenance buffer but add strata fees of, say, $6,000/year, since building insurance is typically already inside the strata levy. The total often lands in a similar range, just split differently.

Model this in True Loan

True Loan has dedicated ongoing-cost inputs so your monthly picture includes more than the repayment. Open the calculator and:

1. Set your loan amount, interest rate, term and repayment frequency to get the repayment.
2. In the ongoing costs section, enter council rates, water, insurance, strata, maintenance, land tax and property management. Use the estimates above as a starting point, then refine with your own quotes.
3. If you have savings sitting against the loan, use the dedicated Offset balance input; if you're paying down faster, use the separate Extra repayment ($/month) input. They're modelled independently.
4. Want to weigh a house against an apartment (different strata vs maintenance mix)? Build both in True Loan Compare and view them side by side. Every scenario is shareable by URL.

Common questions and mistakes

• Are utilities like electricity, gas and internet "ongoing costs"? They're real living costs but you'd pay them renting too, so this guide focuses on costs specific to owning (rates, water, insurance, strata, maintenance, land tax).
• Do I pay land tax on my home? Generally no, because your principal place of residence is exempt. Land tax mainly hits investment properties; see how much land tax applies by state.
• Is strata or maintenance bigger? For apartments, strata fees dominate and may already include building insurance; for houses, the 1% maintenance buffer is the bigger line.
• Don't confuse these with upfront costs. Stamp duty, LMI and conveyancing are one-off charges; see the first-home-buyer total upfront cost guide.
• People underestimate the total. Combine all lines before deciding what you can comfortably afford.

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These figures are estimates for the 2025-26 financial year and vary by council, insurer and property. Always check official sources (your council, state revenue office, water authority and moneysmart.gov.au) for current rates. This is general information, not financial advice.