What Are the Step-by-Step Stages of Buying a House in Australia?
The stages of buying a house in Australia, from budget and pre-approval to settlement, and how the order shifts between private treaty and auction.
What are the step-by-step stages of buying a house in Australia?
Buying a house in Australia generally follows the same broad sequence, whichever state or territory you’re in: set a budget and deposit, get pre-approval, search, inspect, make an offer and sign a contract, sit through any cooling-off period, get formal loan approval, complete conveyancing, then settle. Nine stages cover most of what a first home buyer works through.
The order isn’t identical everywhere. Buying at auction removes the cooling-off period and forces finance approval earlier — you generally need it sorted before you bid, not after signing. Buying by private treaty (a negotiated sale, not an auction) usually gives you a short cooling-off window and lets some steps run in parallel. The stages below describe the private-treaty sequence, with auction differences noted where they change the order.
Stage 1: Set a budget and work out your deposit
Before you start looking, work out roughly what you can afford and how much deposit you’re bringing. Lenders describe this using the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) — the loan amount as a percentage of the property’s value.
LVR = loan amount ÷ property value × 100
A 20% deposit keeps your LVR at 80% or below, which is usually the level at which lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) doesn’t apply — LMI protects the lender, not you, and is generally payable once the LVR goes above 80%. A smaller deposit isn’t unusual: as at July 2026, the federal 5% Deposit Scheme lets eligible first home buyers purchase with a 5% deposit (2% for single parents or legal guardians) without paying LMI, subject to price caps that vary by state and property location. See our guide to how much deposit you actually need for the deposit paths in full, including budgeting approaches for building one up.
Stage 2: Get pre-approval
Pre-approval is a lender’s conditional indication of how much it might lend you, based on the information you’ve given so far. It isn’t a guarantee — it’s subject to conditions like a satisfactory valuation of the actual property you end up buying, final verification of your documents, and your circumstances staying materially the same. Most buyers get pre-approval before they make serious offers, so they know roughly what they can bid or offer with some confidence.
Stage 3: Search for a property
With a budget and pre-approval in hand, the search stage is largely about matching what’s available to what you can afford and where you want to live. This stage has no figures attached to it and varies entirely by personal preference and local market conditions.
Stage 4: Arrange building and pest inspections
Before committing to a property, most buyers arrange a building inspection and a separate pest inspection, carried out by qualified, licensed inspectors. These are a professional service with a cost that varies by property size, location and inspector — no government source publishes a typical fee, so get quotes from a few licensed inspectors rather than assuming a figure. A pre-purchase inspection report can flag structural issues or pest damage that affect your offer or your decision to proceed.
Stage 5: Make an offer and sign a contract
Once you’ve found a property and had it inspected, you make an offer (private treaty) or bid (auction). If accepted, both parties sign a contract of sale, which sets out the price, settlement date and any special conditions (like finance or building and pest clauses).
Private treaty vs auction
At auction, contracts are typically unconditional the moment the hammer falls — no cooling-off period, no subject-to-finance clause, so finance approval and inspections need to happen beforehand. Under private treaty, the contract usually allows a short cooling-off period and may include a subject-to-finance condition, giving you a bit more room to finalise approval after signing.
Stage 6: The cooling-off period, where one applies
A cooling-off period is a short window after signing during which a buyer can withdraw from a private-treaty contract, generally subject to a penalty. As at July 2026, it isn’t one uniform rule across the eight states and territories — three different shapes exist: a defined period with a percentage-based forfeiture, a defined period with a different withdrawal-cost mechanism, and, in two jurisdictions, no statutory period at all.
| State | Cooling-off period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | 5 business days from exchange | None at auction; waivable with a solicitor’s certificate (s66W) |
| VIC | 3 clear business days from signing | Private sales only; none near auction |
| QLD | 5 business days from signed contract | None at auction |
| SA | 2 clear business days from the contract (or from the vendor’s statement, if served later) | None for a corporate buyer, at auction, or on a same-day passed-in auction contract; the vendor can keep only up to $100 if the buyer rescinds |
| WA | No statutory cooling-off period | Applies only if the buyer and seller negotiate one into the contract |
| TAS | No statutory cooling-off period | An optional clause can be added to the standard contract by agreement; none at auction either way |
| ACT | 5 working days from when the contract is made | None for a corporate buyer, tender or auction sales, or a same-day passed-in auction contract; rescinding costs 0.25% of the purchase price |
| NT | 4 business days from exchange | None at auction; no financial penalty for withdrawing within the period |
For NSW, off-the-plan purchases get 10 days rather than 5, and the period doesn’t apply where exchange happens on the same day as an auction pass-in. For VIC, the period doesn’t apply at or within 3 days of a public auction, and withdrawing costs the greater of $100 or 0.2% of the price. For QLD, the period also doesn’t apply within 2 days of a failed auction, and withdrawing can cost up to 0.25% of the price.
For SA, the right to rescind sits in section 5 of the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994, and it can be waived where independent legal advice has been certified. WA and Tasmania don’t have a statutory cooling-off period at all for an ordinary residential sale — in WA one only exists if it’s written into the contract, and Tasmania’s standard contract offers it only as an optional clause both parties agree to use. For the ACT, sections 12–15 of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 set the period, and like NSW and SA it can be waived or shortened, but only once the buyer has taken legal advice and their lawyer has signed a certificate. For the NT, the requirement sits in government guidance and standard contract practice rather than in a dedicated cooling-off Act, and there’s no financial penalty at all for withdrawing within the 4 days.
A cooling-off right can usually be waived with a solicitor’s or conveyancer’s certificate, which is common when a buyer wants an unconditional-feeling offer to stand out.
Stage 7: Formal (unconditional) loan approval
Pre-approval becomes formal, unconditional approval once the lender has valued the specific property and completed its final checks. Lenders assess this against a general responsible-lending framework (ASIC RG 209) rather than one fixed formula, and APRA’s guidance describes a prudential buffer of at least 3 percentage points added to a loan’s interest rate when testing whether a borrower could keep meeting repayments if rates rose. This is why a property that looked affordable at pre-approval can still need a second look once a specific price and valuation are locked in.
Stage 8: Conveyancing
Conveyancing is the legal work of transferring property ownership — a solicitor or licensed conveyancer checks the contract and title, manages settlement adjustments, and lodges the paperwork with the state land registry. It’s a professional fee that varies by state, property and practitioner; no government source publishes a typical cost, so ask a few practitioners for quotes before choosing one.
Stage 9: Settlement
Settlement is the day ownership legally transfers: the buyer’s funds (and lender’s loan funds, if applicable) are paid, the seller hands over keys, and the property is registered in the buyer’s name. Stamp duty (transfer duty) is a state government tax on the transfer, and buyers typically need to pay it within 30 days of settlement, though the exact rate and any first home buyer concession depend on the state. See our guide to first home buyer stamp duty concessions by state for how each jurisdiction’s duty settings compare.
What varies by state and by how you buy
The core sequence is the same everywhere, but the details underneath it aren’t. Cooling-off rights exist in some states and not others, waiving them is common practice in some markets and rare in others, and stamp duty concessions differ by state and by property type. Buying at auction compresses the finance and inspection stages into the run-up to auction day rather than after signing.
Which approach suits you — private treaty or auction, waiving cooling-off or keeping it — depends on the specific property, the local market and your own readiness. That’s a conversation for a licensed conveyancer or your mortgage broker, not something this guide can settle for you.
How do you make sure each stage goes smoothly?
There’s no single right way to move through these nine stages — a competitive market might push you to get pre-approval and inspections done earlier than this guide suggests, while a quieter one gives you more room to take each step in turn.
A licensed conveyancer or property lawyer can walk you through the contract and settlement stages specific to your state, and a mortgage broker can talk you through pre-approval and finance timing. Both are worth involving early rather than at the last stage.
